TAP Air Portugal almost beats 2019 levels

For an airline that is set to be partially privatized

, there are no better credentials than solid financial and operational results. Exactly these were presented by TAP Air Portugal, which reported strong growth numbers for Q3 and the first nine months on Tuesday.

TAP recorded a €180.5 million net profit for Q3, up from €111.3 million in the same period of 2022. Revenues increased twelve percent to €1.258 billion from €1.119 billion. Passenger revenues contributed €1.181 billion to the result and were up from €1.002 billion. Supply chain issues and delays affected TAP’s maintenance and engineering business, which generated €32.9 million in revenues, down from €48 million. Cargo revenues were also lower to €38 million from €64.3 million.

Operating costs increased by 14.7 percent to €992.5 million, with 64.5 percent higher employee costs to €171.1 million and 45.8 percent higher traffic costs to €266 million only partly offset by 86.4 percent lower fuel costs at €285.4 million. The result is an operating profit/EBIT of €265.9 million, up from €141.1 million last year. The EBIT margin was 21.1 percent.