At a joining ceremony held in Lisbon, representatives of the Star Alliance welcomed TAP Portugal as their 16th member…
At a joining ceremony held in Lisbon, representatives of the Star Alliance welcomed TAP Portugal as their 16th member. With Portugal’s leading airline having joined, the Airline Network for Earth™ now offers its customers an even greater choice of flights, especially in Europe, on the South Atlantic as well as to and from North America and Africa.
By adding Lisbon to its European hubs, Star Alliance now offers ten strategically placed connecting airports across the continent. TAP also brings some very unique destinations and routes into the network, such as Madeira and the Azores on its domestic Portuguese network, the Cape Verde Islands, Guinea Bissau, Luanda, Maputo and Sao Tome and Principe in Africa as well as non-stop flights between Lisbon and the cities of Fortaleza, Natal, Recife and Salvador thus cutting travelling time from Europe to north-eastern Brazil by several hours.
“We are pleased to welcome TAP as our newest member carrier”, said Jaan Albrecht, CEO Star Alliance. “With TAP, Star Alliance has again improved its network quality, thereby adding to our customer proposition and further strengthening our leading position among the aviation alliances”, he continued.
Joining Star Alliance will at the same time also improve TAP’s competitive position. TAP can now offer its customers access to the entire Star Alliance network. Moreover, TAP’s Victoria Frequent Flyer Programme now offers the Star Alliance frequent traveller benefits, such as being able to collect and redeem miles on all Star Alliance member carrier flights. Furthermore, TAP’s Victoria Gold Winners members are now also Star Alliance Gold members, being granted such privileges as access to 620 Star Alliance Gold Lounges, being allowed an extra baggage allowance and being given waitlist and airport stand by priorities. TAP’s Victoria Silver Winners members are now also Star Alliance Silver members, allowing them waitlist and airport stand by priorities across all member carriers.
Fernando Pinto, CEO TAP Portugal said: “We at TAP are extremely happy that we have joined Star Alliance today, which coincides with our 60th anniversary. Our employees have worked hard over the past years to achieve the company’s turnaround, which has now culminated in the recent launch of our new corporate image and today’s joining of Star Alliance. We all at TAP look forward to welcoming and serving all Star Alliance customers”.
As a Star Alliance member, TAP Portugal will begin to participate and sell the 2 3ten Star Alliance fare products during the course of the next month. For example, customers purchasing the very popular Round-the-World fares can then include TAP flights in their itinerary. The same is true for the European Airpass, which now includes all of TAP’s European routes. Moreover, convention organisers using Star Alliance’s tailor-made Conventions Plus product, can now also make use of TAP’s services.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
