Portugal’s soon-to-be-privatised airline TAP is well-positioned to tap into strong growth potential in Brazil and Africa, Chief Executive Luis Rodrigues said on Wednesday.
The airline operates routes to 13 Brazilian cities and 14 destinations in Africa, including Portuguese-speaking countries such as Angola and Mozambique.
«We are fortunate to be well-positioned to tackle both of them (Brazil and Africa),» he said at the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon.
«Brazil is a promising country, and there’s still a huge opportunity there,» he added, pointing to data showing tourism in Brazil only representing about 6% of gross domestic product, while in Portugal it accounts for about 16%.
«In a country that is 20 times as big as Portugal, the opportunity is huge,» Rodrigues said, adding though that while «Africa is bigger than that», countries there still had more structural constraints.
According to the CEO, TAP has «a good geographical balance» between North America, South America, Europe, and Africa, which allows for flexibility because «not all routes look good or bad at the same time»…
