TAP wins Airbus award for operational excellence

TAP Portugal has received an A320 Family Operational Excellence Award from Airbus in recognition of its service record with the single aisle aircraft type. The airline was presented the award in Paris during Airbus' bi-annual symposium of all operators of the A320 Family worldwide

The selection criteria for the awards are based on data covering two years of operation and take into account the number of aircraft in the fleet, daily utilisation rate, technical reliability and the number of delays caused to flights for operational reasons.

"While the world A320 Family fleet continues to record outstanding operational results, these awards recognise exceptional technical performance at individual operators," said Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Customer Services. "TAP has established an extremely efficient operation with its Airbus aircraft, with exceptionally high utilisation and an outstanding dispatch reliability".

The A320 Family [A318, A319, A320 and A321] is recognised as the benchmark single-aisle aircraft family. Over 6,300 have already been sold and more than 3,700 delivered to some 280 customers and operators worldwide.

This award joins four others already granted by Airbus to TAP for the best operational performance world-wide, on the A340 fleet in 1996, A319 in 2000 and A310 in 2003 and 2005, and expresses the recognition of the exceptional level reached by the company in the optimized use of the fleet and in the maintenance of its operational reliability.

About TAP Portugal
TAP Portugal is the leading Portuguese airline, member of Star Alliance since March 14, 2005. Its hub in Lisbon is a key European gateway at the crossroads of Africa, North & South America, where TAP stands out as the leading European carrier in operation to Brazil. The company's network comprises 59 destinations in 26 countries worldwide. TAP currently operates over 1,850 weekly flights in average on a modern fleet of 53 Airbus aircraft, to which add 16 more aircraft operating in PGA, the European regional carrier acquired by TAP in 2007.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering is the MRO of TAP Portugal and is a member of Airbus MRO Network.