TAP is changing - New products to be launched

TAP Portugal will launch new products aimed at different targets, as of next June-beginning. These were designed to add more quality and flexibility to services offered to customers along with a wider choice, a new focus on price and the strengthening of the Company’s transparency in communicating with the travelling public.

Pursuing an orientation whose top priority is customers and living up to their expectations, TAP today announced, in Lisbon, the launch of five new branded products: tap ? executive; tap ? plus; tap ? classic; tap ? basic and tap ? discount, based on the concept “Come aboard the freedom of choice”.

The new fare products were developed to meet customers’ different motivations and needs, and include, in the whole, a varied offer of features and services, ranging from the best promotional prices to the best Business class service, now upgraded.

In recent years, TAP has significantly expanded and introduced remarkable changes. Since 2000 to date, the Company nearly doubled its operations and enhanced its positioning as the leading Portuguese airline. Further new destinations were added to its network in Europe, in Brazil - where TAP stands out as the leading European carrier in operation – and also in Africa. In parallel, TAP increased frequencies to a number of destinations and acquired PGA, thus extending even more the reach of its European network.

Within this framework, TAP launched a New Corporate Image, joined Star Alliance, also launched New Uniforms and extended and renewed its fleet. It is now time again to respond to the current challenges facing the industry with innovation and keeping pace with the latest trends.

More recently, TAP put several important measures in place, in order to provide customers with upgraded services and in an attempt to anticipate their expectations.

The Company implemented a new dedicated Customer Service division and goes on working in close co-operation with others, such as the Handling Provider Groundforce and the Lisbon Airport Authority.

Thanks to those combined actions, TAP enhanced its capacity to attract more travellers to Portugal and managed to improve its punctuality and baggage handling, namely at its Lisbon Hub, where the punctuality at departure increased to 75.9 per cent in the first quarter (JAN-MAR) 2008, thus nearing the average indicators of the AEA company members.

Keeping abreast with change and according to recent researches carried out by national and international specialists, TAP redesigned its commercial strategy and tailored the new products now announced to clients’ needs - be it higher quality, flexibility, convenience or price. Thus, the company joins a restricted group of airlines worldwide and becomes fitter to deliver customers whatever services matter for them at anytime.

With quality service as the common denominator, each one of the five new branded products aggregates more value and offers different features and specific levels of service, both aboard and on the ground: tap | executive - comfort, personalised service, efficiency, swiftness and total flexibility; tap | plus – swiftness and total flexibility; tap | classic – convenience and flexibility; tap | basic – very good value for money and tap | discount – very low price.

The tap plus were specially designed to the business travellers or to the ones looking for a higher quality service. Therefore and particularly to those, new services and facilities at airports are to be launched soon.

At this stage, Tap can already announce a new Lounge of a superior quality at Lisbon airport due to open next July 1st. Other improvements are to follow, namely at the Company Hub in Lisbon, as TAP is currently working to deliver its promise to customers: provide them with the best quality and choice possible.

All in all, the new branded products represent a profound change in the commercial philosophy of TAP, the airline that invites customers to travel in a simple way: “Come aboard the freedom of choice. One flight, five options to travel.”