In April 2019, TAP Air Portugal took delivery of its first Airbus A321LR. This plane has been pushing the limits of long-haul travel for a single-aisle jet in the current era. Simple Flying this week spoke with Ricardo Dinis, TAP’s Sales Director for UK, Ireland and the Nordics, about how the narrowbody gives his company a competitive advantage across the Atlantic Ocean.
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Terrible airline never again . A complete mess
No thanks. Fly enough single aisle domestically in Canada. If im going intercontinental i want a widebody.
I’ve just arrived from a return trip to Newark on these new A321LR. They’re quite modern and very quiet indeed. It’s nice that the boarding and disembarking process are quick, due to their sizes. Another nice tough is that internet is available onboard and texting (WhatsApp and iMessage) is available for free. It was a shame though that on our return to Europe journey the plane was just half full… Given their business model (“flying thinner routes with smaller aircraft to it’s easier to fill the plane”) I’m not so sure if they were happy it. Also, but unrelated to the video, Portuguese authorities can be quite confusing with the laws and regulations for Covid and codeshares, so be prepared for a queue and make sure you have got all the paperwork ready 👍🏻
TAP Air Portugal is seeing and showing how versatile the A321LR is, as a short to medium. long haul aircraft.
Why are you showing CEOs almost every time you mention the NEO?
Sweet heart … TAP doenst turn a profit. its supported by the portuguese state ( in 2020 it got more than the armed forces and the ministery of education combined).
half the population wants it privatized or completly dismantled.
it also uses its monopoly in portuguese airports to charge a lot more than its competitors and occupies slots in airports.
for instance, the Portuguese prime minister, during his campain, went to the islands of Azores. there he talked about the importance of TAP in conecting them to continent. the funny thing is that he, himself, went to the islands in Ryanair because TAP didnt had any flights to the islands at that time, and those that had in the end of the day were 5x more expensive.
TAP pilots are also one of the highest paying profession in the country, some payed more than 10x the average national salary, depite the company beeing in bankrupcy and beeing payed with the money of the portuguese taxpayers and even the money of german and dutch taxpayers by the european funds.
yes… TAP is going to recive MORE money from the pandemic recovery funds that ALL OTHER portuguese companies and enterprises COMBINED.
this company is a monster that is sucking the poorest people in western europe.
its also one of the companies with the most complains and allways ranking in the 3 worst european airlines.
TAP is such a great airline with a brilliant hub location
I have flown to Madeira in an 321neo and its one of the best experiences I've had in Europe same with the e190
Lots of shots of A320ceo when talking of A321LRs lol
I'll have to consider TAP for my next trip to Portugal. Flying direct from North America sounds more efficient than transfering in LHR, CDG, or FRA. The nearest airport served by TAP is Toronto (YYC), three time zones east of here on the West Coast (YVR).
Update: I've checked the routings. One of the cheaper options combines WestJet and Easyjet. Via CDG, alas. TAP from YYZ is much quickter.
Aer Lingus has the same advantages.
I flew on them back in 2019! Great airline, seats were also comfortable on the A321LR. I flew on CS-TXA to Porto from EWR, and then CS-TXB from Porto to EWR on the roundtrip!
Thank you very much.
Speaking of the A321, I noticed on the flight radar 24 app recently that Aer Lingus used one on a Dublin to JFK trans Atlantic flight
I’m not convinced it’s a particularly strong position – The market is heading towards the point-to-point model and Portugal itself is quite far out of the way in Europe for onwards travel (compared to the likes of Amsterdam/Frankfurt etc).
SF, is there a marked difference in travel time of a loaded fuel efficient narrow body versus a loaded fuel efficient wide body? E.g. 787 vs 321LR on transatlantic routes? (Perhaps this isn't a factor, and why I don't recall having heard anyone making the comparison.)
I think there’s a potential for a successful Portuguese ULCC that operates narrow bodies like the A220 between the americas and destinations in Europe by way of the Azores islands
Airbus and Embraer are the future. Boeing has dug its own grave
O melhor! TAP!
They are a low cost, no frills carrier and that's exactly what you get. Limited leg room, mediocre food, but relatively cheap.
In 2015 when I was in Madeira, one of the locals called TAP by their local not so nice nickname of Take Another Plane. Fast forward a few months, and I'm on a TAP A320 flying the LHR-LIS route. Great service, but the flag carriers always seem to reserve their best service for their international routes.
Between the location of their LIS hub and the newer Airbus offerings, they are in a great location to run narrowbody aircraft all over the Atlantic. I could only imagine how they'd be able to use the A321XLR on their network.
TAP's geographical position and their more efficiant planes look good on paper. But that's all worthless, as they are amongst the worst airlines concerning passenger service in general and onboard service in particular.
TAP is a terrible airline. Look up the US DOT report of complaints. TAP is a relatively small company but it consistently ranks in top 3 for most complaints filed. I’d avoid using TAP at all costs!
Your portuguese is great
I love TAP. I fly many times a year to and from Portugal on the A330 neo and A321LR. They never fail to disappoint and their hard and soft products have increased massively since the days of the A330 ceo and A340.
Apart from the short-field performance where the now ageing 757 remains King, I think it would be a very blinkered person who fails to accept that the A321 is now the best at what it does.
What an opportunity, the once great Boeing missed, but, who knows what the future may bring!
They run them out of Toronto, as well. We almost booked it for a longer stopover, Toronto-Lisbon-Manchester.
Flown many times MAN > LIS > IAD “cost effective” . Take your own entertainment.
Literally on a layover in Lisbon flying the A330 Neo from Chicago. It wasn’t a full flight, so I think an A321 LR offering for off-season flights makes huge amounts of sense! It was already a fairly cheap flight especially for Econ Extra, but it would be nice if they can maximize a smaller aircraft and drop prices even more to match the savings!
A220-300 with 70.9T MTOW given 2 small ACT (+2.2T) will fly 140pax to 4000nm