TAP presentes Summer news on BTL

• Portugal Stopover program is back with even more benefits.
• Reputable Portuguese chefs create business class on-board meal menu that values Portugal and Portuguese products.
• Miles&Go Clients reach six million. 
• Preferential boarding will be able to be purchased by Customers as a complementary product to the booking.

TAP was once again present and BTL, the largest Portuguese travel and tourism fair, with one of the largest stands of the event, which took place at FIL, in Lisbon.

Christine Ourmières-Widener, the Company's CEO, presented at a special event the biggest news in the products and services offered by the airline.

Noteworthy is the presentation of the new on-board menus in Business class created by reputable national chefs Henrique Sá Pessoa, Cláudio Pontes, Noélia Jerónimo, Júlio Pereira, Diogo Rocha and Óscar Geadas. A project called Local Stars, which focuses on the valorization of portugality through gastronomy, as well as portuguese regions, through the promotion of its emblematic products.

The Airline presented the new Executive class amenity kits, a partnership with one of the oldest and most recognized Portuguese brands, Benamôr.

At BTL, TAP also announced the relaunch of the Portugal Stopover programme, interrupted during the pandemic and which now adds a wide range of new advantages and partners to those that already existed and that contributed to TAP's Stopover being considered by the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler to be the best program of its kind worldwide.

TAP has already held Stopover relaunch events in S. Paulo and New York, promoting not only this product, but also the tourist destination Portugal in two of the most important international markets. TAP has announced, moreover, the strengthening of its summer operation to destinations in Brazil and the United States of America where it flies, both in direct connections to Lisbon and Porto.

TAP’s CEO highlighted the 2022 addition of more than one million new members to the Miles&Go frequent flyer program, which already exceeds six million members in total.

Reference also to the new complementary service of Preferential Boarding that, from mid-March, can be purchased by any passenger and allows boarding immediately after the boarding of passengers of Executive and / or Gold and Silver.
During the event, which was attended by dozens of guests, including agents and tour operators, tourism entities, business partners and journalists, Christine Ourmières-Widener considered that "TAP recovered over 2022 much of its offer, compared to what it had before the pandemic, and closed last year with a positive and consistent performance, delivering and even exceeding the objectives defined in the Restructuring Plan. In 2023, we hope to confirm this positive trend, after all the investments we have also been making to improve our product and customer service."

"TAP continues to contribute decisively to the growth of the Portuguese economy, to the increase in tourism revenues, to keep Portugal connected to the world. And to bring the world to know what we have and do," concluded the Airline's CEO.

Stopover: to discover Portugal on the way and back

The Stopover program is even better and with more advantages to allow customers to discover and explore Portugal before moving on to their destination. And now, also on the way back home. 

TAP passengers can add Portugal to the trip with a free stop of up to 10 days, with more than 290 exclusive offers and discounts on 115 partners, which will make the visit unforgettable, from between hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, museums, and numerous activities, in partnership with Turismo de Portugal.

Passengers in Stopover also have a 25% discount for a flight within Portugal, to discover tourist regions such as Porto and North, the Algarve or Madeira and Azores, through a promotional code that can be used on the TAP website (www.flytap.com) or in travel agencies.

The Stopover program has the Airline's main long-haul markets, namely the Brazilian and North American markets, as the main recipients, but is available for all markets in which TAP operates.

Currently, TAP connects Europe to 11 destinations in Brazil from Lisbon and Porto, flying to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Natal, Maceió, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador. On connections to the United States, TAP flies to Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. 

The Portugal Stopover Program, launched in July 2016, allows Passengers whose destination is not Lisbon or Porto, but who stop in one of these cities, to enjoy, on outgoing or return, a stop in Portugal – which can now be up to ten nights – without any additional cost in the fare.

Turismo de Portugal joins TAP Stopover program to encourage more passengers to visit Portugal and discover various regions of the country, taking advantage of the opportunities and benefits that the program offers, also recounting the excellent collaboration of the regions to build an attractive and diverse experience.

Portuguese reputable chefs elevate traditional gastronomy on board TAP aircraft

“Local Stars” it’s the name of this project of TAP and The Art of Tasting Portugal.

TAP Air Portugal invited The Art of Tasting Portugal to give life to the new Local Stars project, whose objective is the valorization of Portugality through gastronomy, as well as portuguese regions, through the promotion of its emblematic products.

In the next two years, on the long-haul flights of the airline, the promotion of Portuguese gastronomy materializes on board Business class, where the journey begins in a region and highlights a local product, worked by a national chef.

TAP Air Portugal has teamed up with The Art of Tasting Portugal to create an unprecedented project, called Local Stars, which aims to promote portugality and the country, regions and their products through the gastronomic experience provided in the on-board menus served in the business class of the national airline.

"TAP is the largest showcase of Portugal in the world and our aircraft are one of the most powerful vehicles promoting Portugal. The Local Stars project allows TAP to work with some of the most reputable Portuguese chefs in the development of Business Class menus, bringing the gastronomy we serve on board our aircraft to new heights", says Silvia Mosquera, CCRO TAP.

"Promoting Portugal as a gastronomic destination, with its differentiation and quality, is an objective that The Art of Tasting Portugal offers with TAP Air Portugal. This partnership, which we are so proud of, reinforces this strategy of strengthening the national territory and the community that values it. ", says Patrícia Dias, founder of The Art of Tasting Portugal, alongside Adriana Fournier.  "In these two years in which the Local Stars project "flies" with TAP, we will have parallel actions in the territory that allow a continuity of this experience "on the ground". We aim not only to promote the country and the various regions, but also to promote the territory and add value through gastronomic experiences and activations with local products and chefs, enhancing tourism and the local economy. We invite everyone to know and live the flavors of our country. ", adds Adriana Fournier.

The initiative has recognized national chefs who, every two months, highlight a region and a product of that same place. Thus, in March and April begins this journey in Lisbon, with the grouper as a star product, worked by chef Henrique Sá Pessoa. In the following two months, in May and June, it is up to the Azorean chef Cláudio Pontes to shine the São Jorge Cheese, produced exclusively in São Jorge, in the Azores archipelago, the region highlighted in this menu. July and August will have the octopus as a star product in a menu in charge of chef Noélia Jerónimo, who promotes the Algarve region. The chefs Júlio Pereira, Diogo Rocha e Óscar Geadas are the names that complete the list of participants in this first year of the project.

CateringPor is in charge of the production of the author's menus, and will cook the dishes through the recipe, tasting and validation of the various chefs involved. The project also aims at integrating local raw materials and will choose local suppliers from the regions, supporting the sustainability and promotion of the local economy on which TAOTP is based.

Miles&Go gains on million new members in 2022 and reaches six million

Miles&Go, TAP's frequent flyer programme, gained more than one million new members in 2022 and already surpassed 6 million Clients.

Preferred boarding

Preferred boarding is a new product offered to Customers, which will be available in March, that allows any passenger who purchases it to board immediately after Business class passengers and/or Navigator, Gold, and Silver Customers. Preferred boarding can be purchased from €4 on flights departing from Portugal, €6 in Europe and €8 in the remaining departure regions of the flight.