Brazil's Azul Airlines' CEO David Neeleman wants to turn a 73-year-old airline, TAP
and its home in Portugal into the next gateway into Europe.
He says that "Portugal is very well positioned to be a hub
to receive people in Europe. It is only 3,300 miles from New York.
There is no other big city on the European continent that is closer than Lisbon.
The idea of transforming Lisbon into a European hub is the basis
of the strategy of Neeleman and Antonoaldo Neves, the chief executive for Azul.
At the same time, Neeleman guarantees that at the top of the list is the
financial balance of TAP, which accumulated losses and debt over a decade
and returned in 2017 to have positive results (100 million euros).
"The way the airline was financed before was basically to have the banks take
turns to put money into the company," says Neeleman. "And because there was
no capital to buy new planes, the fleet was very old. It looked like we were flying
in the 1970s, on those planes, "said David Neeleman, noting that customer
service and maintenance structure performed well.
The Atlantic Gateway consortium's $ 900 million investment made it possible
to resolve financial commitments and "invest in the purchase of 71 new aircraft
from Airbus." TAP's plan, until next year, is to have the entire fleet comprised of
the new Airbus A330neo and also current-generation Airbus aircraft purchased
used but with refurbished interiors.
By the end of 2019, TAP expects to its entire wide-body long-haul fleet to be
either the brand new next-generation Airbus A330neo airliners or current
generation Airbus aircraft with brand new refurbished interiors.
To help boost Portugal's prominence as a travel destination, TAP allows
passengers to extend their layovers up to five days for free.
