By André Orbanc
TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses), the flag carrier airline of Portugal headquartered at Lisbon, will begin flying to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, on 26th October with three weekly flights from Lisbon.
This is another example of the national airline strengthening its service to Africa, a market in which TAP has recorded significant growth.
The service will use Airbus A320 aircraft, with three flights per week, leaving Lisbon at 20:55 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and arriving in Banjul at 00:10 the next day. The flights will then leave Banjul at 01:05 (on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays), arriving at Humberto Delgado airport at 06:05 (all times local). The launch of this new route further strengthens TAP’s service to Africa, adding one more country and one more capital to its network of destinations on the continent of Africa.
TAP flies to the following destinations in Africa: Morocco (Marrakesh, Casablanca, Tangier and Fez), Cape Verde (Sal, Praia, S. Vicente and Boa Vista), Senegal (Dakar), Guinea-Bissau (Bissau), Ivory Coast (Abidjan), Togo (Lomé), Ghana (Accra), S Tomé and Príncipe (S Tomé), Angola (Luanda) and Mozambique (Maputo) – a total of 16 cities in 10 countries.
The new destination of Banjul, in The Gambia, and the recently announced start of flights to Conakry, in Guinea, bring the number of African countries and cities the national airline directly serves from Portugal to 12 and 18, respectively.
TAP carried more than 1.1 million passengers on its African routes in 2018, an increase of 11.3% compared to the previous year. TAP continues its growth in Africa with these new destinations for 2019.
