By the end of October, still two months before the end of the year, TAP managed to surpass the total number of passengers carried in the whole of 2016.From January to October 2017, TAP has carried more than 11.9 million passengers on its aircraft, while in 2016, and considering the entire year, the airline carried 11.7 million passengers.
The month of October was also the month in which the airline recorded the best load factor on its flights this year, reaching an average of 87.2% of seats occupied, an increase of 1.8 percentage points over the same month of 2016.TAP carried 1.3 million passengers in October, up 15% from the same period the previous year, thus registering its best ever month of October and continuing to beat successive records.
The largest growth in the number of passengers carried was recorded on European routes, with growth of 130,000 passengers, an increase of 18% from 2016.
This growth has been constant throughout the year and it is only possible due to the investment by the airline in retrofitting its aircraft, which has allowed growth in the number of seats offered and also increased the comfort of passengers.
Growth was also significant on the routes to the USA, the market where TAP strongly increased its operations. TAP registered in that market an increase of more than 14% in passengers carried when compared to October 2016.
The Portuguese airline also highlights the strong growth that has occurred in Brazil, where flights achieved the highest load factor of the carrier's entire network, with an average of 92.2% of the seats occupied, which is 4.3 percentage points higher than in October 2016.