Airline Identity
History
TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) was founded on 14 March 1945 and began commercial flights in 1946 with a Lisbon–Madrid service. It was nationalized in the 1970s, partially privatized to the Atlantic Gateway consortium in 2015, and then saw the Portuguese state increase its ownership again from 2016; it has joined Star Alliance in 2005 as Portugal's flag carrier.
Current Operations
TAP flies an all-Airbus fleet — A320-family narrowbodies and A330/A330neo widebodies — from its main hub at Lisbon, with a secondary base at Porto and Madeira as a focus city, connecting Europe with Africa and the Americas (notably Brazil, a legacy strength). As of mid-2026 the airline remains majority state-owned while a long-running privatization process continues, with Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group having submitted binding bids for a stake of roughly 44.5%; no final buyer had been confirmed as of this writing.
Last verified 2026-08-22· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.