In this installment of Wednesday Route Highlight we will continue our focus on routes to/from Africa, where I have previously written about Air Madagascar (read here) and Air Namibia (read here). Today, we will be taking a look at TAP Portugal’s service between Lisbon, Portugal and Maputo; the capital and largest city in Mozambique.
As always, if you have any suggestions for a specific route that I should highlight, feel free to leave it below in the comments.
TAP Portugal operates this flight 3x weekly year-round (Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays from LIS) aboard its undesirable (from a passenger perspective) A340-300 aircraft. TAP Portugal outfits this plane in a 2 class configuration consisting of 36 angle flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout, followed by 232 standard economy class seats in a 2-4-2 layout.
According to their website, TAP Portugal has a total of 4 A340-300’s in their fleet, which they use on this route and other select flights to South America. These planes will gradually exit TAP’s fleet over the next few years, as the airline is set to receive 20 brand new A330-900neo aircraft starting in 2018.
Up front, the business class hard product is unimpressive. Despite being in a decent 2-2-2 configuration, the airline has installed recliner seats. In addition, the product just looks worn and tired, Im guessing from the years of wear and tear that an aircraft goes through. Those A330-900neo’s can’t come soon enough. Im guessing TAP is wishing for the same thing too, as the product really is uncompetitive. There are no pictures available on TAP’s website (I wouldn’t be proud of this product either), but heres what I could find online of its A340-300 business class.
I should note that this is just found on the airline’s A340-300’s. TAP has actually installed new fully flat, staggered seats on select A330-200 aircraft, which looks infinitely better than the product’s found on the (un-retrofitted) A330’s and A340’s. These offer direct aisle access to every premium passenger.
Obviously, this route is heavily influenced by Portugal’s colonial history. The European power ruled the country as an overseas territory for hundreds of years until 1975, when Mozambique won its independence in the Mozambican War of Independence.
As a result of these historical ties, TAP Portugal is the only airline to fly non-stop between Mozambique and Europe. In fact, there are only two airlines flying between Mozambique and Europe, the other being Turkish, which flies 3x weekly to MPM (Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays) via Johannesburg onboard A330 aircraft.
To the Point!
It is very interesting to see how African colonial histories manifest in todays world. If you look at Africa’s primary international routes, most are flying north to Europe. This is a result of the 1884 Berlin Conference, which had European powers (Belgium, British, France, German, Portuguese…) divide the continent amongst themselves in an effort to secure the area’s lucrative natural resources.
If your looking to travel to sub saharan Africa, maybe give TAP Portugal a try. Although I would advise that you wait until the airline operates its new a330-900neo aircraft on the route, as you will have a greater onboard experience and better hard product. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be the first to try out Airbus’ new state of the art aircraft?
Route Guide 