TAP transported 1.420 million passengers in August this year, a new record for passengers in a single month and a 224,000 passenger increase over August last year, “a year-on-year increase of 18.7%," stated the State controlled company.
The highlight is the company's European routes, where TAP shipped 854,000 passengers, 146,000 more than in the same month of 2016 - a rise of 20.6%.
TAP also highlights the connections to Madeira and the Azores, where the company recorded the highest relative growth, with a 29.5% increase in passengers compared to August last year, a total of 133,000, which represents 30,000 passengers more than in the same month of 2016.
The good news kept on coming with a 26.1% increase in passengers on African routes, followed by the US and Canada where passenger numbers rose 15.7%.
Since the beginning of the year, TAP has transported 9,261,647 passengers, 1.8 million more than in the same period last year, which translates to a growth of 24.3%, an impressive rise in volume for an airline once written off as immutable and lumbered with an old-style politburo management, an ageing fleet and union problems.
The all important load factor was 83.8% in August, while the accumulated January-August percentage was 82.7%, six percentage points higher than the same month last year.
It widely is expected that the airlines finances are tracking the rise in passenger numbers and in load factor and are being converted into trading profits.
After the Passos Coelho government sold a majority shareholding in TAP to the Atlantic Gateway Consortium, owned by Humberto Pedrosa and David Neeleman, the socialist government clawed back enough shares to give the State a holding 50% and seats on the board. The remaining shares are divided up between Atlantic Gateway (45%) and TAP employees who can take up the remaining 5%.
Despite Gateway hanging on to the inherited president of TAP, Fernando Pinto, and now being lumbered with State-appointed board members who have little or no experience in the airline business, the figures are all positive, the unions are calm and the load factor is rising.
The airline's strategy and drive come from Neeleman whose deal-making ability already has proved his worth but sadly for him, the biggest deal - the control of 100% of TAP - eluded him.
