TAP has resumed flights to Caracas, which had been suspended since November due to a security alert issued by the United States, a resumption that coincided with the carrier's 50th anniversary in Venezuela. It represents 50 years of a route that is fundamental for TAP. A route that unites the Portuguese, that unites the diaspora, that unites a great deal...
TAP resumes flights to Caracas and marks 50 years in Venezuela
Saturday, 4 April 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
TAP Air Portugal is Portugal’s flag-carrier airline, founded on 14 March 1945 as Transportes Aéreos Portugueses. It began operations in 1946 with Lisbon–Madrid and quickly opened the long “Linha Aérea Imperial” to Angola and Mozambique, symbolically linking mainland Portugal to its overseas territories. TAP entered the jet age in the 1960s, became Europe’s first all‑jet airline in 1967, and rebranded as TAP Air Portugal in 1979. Nationalised after the 1974 Carnation Revolution, it went through cycles of partial privatisation and renationalisation, remaining a strategic state‑controlled company due to its role in connectivity, tourism, exports, and the Portuguese diaspora, especially to Brazil, Africa, and North America. Today TAP operates an all‑Airbus fleet from its Lisbon hub, marketing itself as a bridge between Europe, Africa, and the Americas and as a key economic and symbolic asset for Portugal.
