UTOPIA AIRPORT: T.A.P -SOUTHERN CROSS

TRANSPORTES AEREOS PORTUGUESES . T.A.P

The national airline of Portugal was founded in 1945 and one of its immediate goals was to link Portugal with its African colonies mainly Angola and Mozambique for which the imperial line was inaugurated on December 31, 1946 linking Lisbon with Louranzo Marques.

We must wait until 1960 to witness TAP venture into the South America market with the friendship flights "VOO da AMIZADE", a joint venture with PANAIR do BRAZIL , to link Lisbon with its former colony Brazil to attract residents of both countries to take advantage of the low fares available of these flights.

Flights are operated with Panair's DC7 carrying a dual name "PANAIR-TAP" along the route : LISBON-SAL-RECIFE-RIO , in 1962 SAO PAULO is added as an additional en-route stop.

With the delivery of its Boeing 707 in 1965 (B707-382B delivered on 12/16/1965), TAP will launch on its own its SOUTHERN CROSS services with a weekly flight TP 367 LISBON-RIO whereas the friendship flights will still operate on a weekly basis with the company's super -constellation (LISBON-SAL-RECIFE-RIO-SAO PAOLO) as per their timetable dated April 1, 1966.

The timetable dated April 1, 1968 shows the addition of Buenos Aires to the company's South America network.

YOUR FLIGHT SCHEDULE (exceptionally from the timetable dated April 1,1970)