Huge Increase in U.S. Travelers Flying to Portugal as JetBlue & TAP Air Portugal Partnership Hits One Year Mark

NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2017 -- On June 16 last year, TAP Air Portugal entered into a partnership with JetBlue to provide convenient flight connections through New York’s John F. Kennedy, Boston’s Logan airport and Newark Liberty. The two airlines codeshare on JetBlue flights from 38 U.S. cities, onto TAP’s Lisbon flights from the three U.S. gateways, to destinations across Europe and Africa.  After just one year, two thirds of TAP’s connecting passengers are coming from JetBlue flights, which translates into about one in every five TAP passengers to Portugal overall.

Top JetBlue cities for travelers to Portugal are:  San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Raleigh, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Tampa, and Detroit.

In Boston, 30% of TAP customers to Lisbon originate on JetBlue flights from 31 cities.  At JFK, 20% of TAP’s customers fly in on JetBlue from 25 codeshare cities.  Elsewhere, JetBlue connecting customers contribute to TAP’s traffic in Newark and south Florida.

While about 45% of all JetBlue-TAP customers are traveling only to Portugal, 55% of them are also continuing on – many after a stopover – to TAP’s network of 65+ destinations across Europe and Africa.

The most popular destinations beyond Portugal are in southern Europe, especially Spain, Italy and France, which represent together about two thirds of the ‘beyond Portugal’ travel.  The most popular cities from Lisbon for these travelers are Rome, Barcelona and Madrid.

"That TAP has doubled our passenger traffic from the U.S. in one year is very pleasing to us – especially with our high average load factor of 85% from the U.S.," said José Guedes Dias, VP Alliances, Industry and Regulatory Affairs, TAP Air Portugal.  “We’re very happy with the success of our agreement with JetBlue in delivering so many customers to our gateway cities.”

“With growth in multiple U.S. markets in just the first year, JetBlue and TAP are bringing valuable connectivity to customers both in the U.S. and abroad,” said Tracy Bink, director alliances and partnerships, JetBlue. “JetBlue’s successful relationship with TAP underscores the importance of our airline partnerships and our commitment to provide award winning service to travelers around the world.”

JetBlue is known for its award-winning service featuring the most legroom in coach; free Fly-Fi, the fastest broadband internet in the sky; complimentary and unlimited name-brand snacks and soft drinks; free, live DIRECTV® programming and 100+ channels of SiriusXM® radio in every seatback.

About JetBlue
JetBlue is New York's Hometown Airline®, and a leading carrier in Boston, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Los Angeles (Long Beach), Orlando, and San Juan. JetBlue carries more than 38 million customers a year to 101 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America with an average of 1,000 daily flights. For more information please visit jetblue.com.

About TAP Air Portugal
TAP is Portugal’s leading airline and a member of the global airline Star Alliance since 2005. Flying since 1945, TAP celebrated its 70th anniversary on March 14, 2015, before completing its privatization process later that year, now with the Atlantic Gateway Group as private shareholders.

As of Summer 2017, TAP’s network comprises 84 destinations in 34 countries worldwide. The airline currently operates around 2,500 weekly flights, with a modern fleet of 63 Airbus aircraft.  TAP Express, the airline’s regional arm, operates an additional 17 aircraft.

With TAP’s privatization process, it has restructured its network, launched new fare products and is renewing its medium and long-haul fleet.  TAP has 53 Airbus neo aircraft on order and, by 2020, its long-haul fleet will either have been replaced with new aircraft or newly reconfigured aircraft.  TAP Express now operates a new fleet of 8 ATR 72 and 9 Embraer 190.

TAP is one of Europe’s most awarded airlines.  Global Traveler (USA) named TAP as Best Airline in Europe from 2011 to 2016, and the World Travel Awards named TAP as both Europe’s Leading Airline to Africa and Europe’s Leading Airline to South America from 2014 – 2017. Previously TAP was awarded World’s Leading Airline to Africa, in 2011 and 2012, and World’s Leading Airline to South America from 2009 through 2012.  TAP’s Inflight Magazine, UP, received the World Travel Award as Europe’s Leading In-flight Magazine for 2015, 2016 and 2017.  

Media contact:
Gareth Edmondson-Jones
GEJ, Ink
917 399-9355
[email protected]