For six decades, TAP Air Portugal has been connecting Portugal to Brazil. This year, the airline celebrates 60 years of a history marked by the expansion of international aviation and operations that have established the Brazilian market as one of the most important for TAP.
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Over this period, the airline has expanded its operations in the country and now boasts one of the largest networks of connections between the two markets. In 2026, TAP expects to carry 2.1 million passengers across the Atlantic, underlining the importance of the Brazilian market.
“Brazil has served the Company very well over the last 60 years and will serve it even better over the next 60,” says Luís Rodrigues, CEO of TAP Air Portugal. “The country has enormous growth potential and remains a key market for TAP.”
With the new routes to Curitiba and São Luís do Maranhão, TAP now connects Portugal to 15 destinations in Brazil, expanding travel options for leisure and business travellers, as well as passengers seeking international connections, given that TAP offers onward connections to dozens of destinations in Europe, Africa and North America.
Rio de Janeiro and TAP
TAP operated its first direct jet flight between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro on 17 June 1966, with the Boeing 707 CS-TBA, named “Santa Cruz” in honour of the historic crossing by Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho, piloted by Captain Silva Soares. Exactly 44 years before this flight, the Portuguese aviators arrived in Rio de Janeiro aboard the Santa Cruz seaplane, thus completing the first South Atlantic Air Crossing.
The inaugural flight carried around 80 passengers and marked the start of regular jet services between Portugal and Brazil, establishing an air bridge that would become a symbol of the link between the two countries.
Prior to the first commercial flight, in 1960 TAP operated the “Friendship Flight”, in partnership with Panair. From 1965 onwards, the airline began operating the route with its own aircraft, linking Lisbon–Sal–Recife–Rio de Janeiro. But it was in 1966 that TAP took a decisive step, launching the direct, non-stop service between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro.