TAP Air Portugal Launches Florianópolis As Europe-Brazil Market Grows

TAP Air Portugal has further increased its market share on Europe-Brazil routes with the launch of a new service to Florianópolis, the capital of the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.

Flights between Lisbon Airport and Florianópolis-Hercílio Luz International Airport will operate three times per week using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Florianópolis becomes the Star Alliance member’s 13^th destination in Brazil.

Speaking to Aviation Week, TAP Group Head of Strategy Henri-Charles Ozarovsky says the 5,244-mi. (4,557-nm) route had been under consideration for several years, citing growing demand and codeshare partnerships with Brazilian airlines Azul and GOL as key factors.

“We continuously monitor data from various regions to identify profitable and sustainable routes. When the opportunity arose to expand to Florianópolis, we saw it as a strategic move to leverage existing operations and partnerships," Ozarovsky says.

The introduction of flights to Florianópolis comes in the wake of disruptions at Porto Alegre Airport due to flooding earlier this year, which led to a temporary suspension of TAP's operations there. However, Ozarovsky says that the new route was not a direct replacement but rather a strategic decision that aligned with TAP’s broader goals in the Brazilian market.

“While the unfortunate events at Porto Alegre presented a challenge, the demand for flights to Florianópolis had been growing independently. We believe this route will not only serve existing demand but also uncover latent potential,” he adds.

Ozarovsky, who will be speaking at Routes World 2024 in Bahrain in October, says that the airline has not ruled out the possibility of resuming flights to Porto Alegre once the airport is fully operational again and traffic with its Brazilian airline partners normalizes.

In the meantime, further growth is planned from November when TAP resumes flights between Lisbon and Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonia. The airline previously served Manaus from June 2014 to February 2016, but the city has been absent from its network since then.

Analysis of data from OAG Schedules Analyser shows that the launch of flights to Florianópolis has boosted TAP’s current capacity to Brazil to more than 51,000 two-way nonstop weekly seats and some 213,600 two-way monthly seats. This will give TAP a 27.9% share of the Europe-Brazil market in September 2024.

By comparison, LATAM Airlines Group has a 21.8% share this month; Air France-KLM Group has 13.6%; Lufthansa Group and ITA Airways have 11%; and International Airlines Group carriers British Airways and Iberia have 9.5%.

However, TAP has a greater frequency share of the market given its use of A321LR aircraft to Brazilian destinations such as Belem, Fortaleza, Maceio, Natal and Recife. The OAG data shows that TAP accounts for 32% of all Europe-Brazil frequencies in September, ahead of LATAM in second place on 18%.

TAP’s latest expansion comes as the wider Europe-Brazil market continues to grow. The combined number of nonstop scheduled two-way seats will reach 847,500 in January 2025. This represents an 11% hike on January 2024 and up by almost 16% on pre-pandemic levels.

While Ozarovsky does not know if there is overcapacity in the market, he highlights that the January 2025 figure marks an all-time high and comes as passengers are exhibiting greater caution because of the weakness of the Brazilian real.

However, he adds that TAP has maintained a disciplined approach to capacity growth, ensuring it meets demand without oversaturating the market and is closely monitoring its evolution in the run-up to Christmas.