TAP Air Portugal

Is TAP Air Portugal safe?

Yes. TAP has not lost an aircraft in the last 20 years, flies one of Europe's younger long-haul fleets and is overseen by Portugal and EASA. We score it 84. What keeps it from the high 80s is not its accident record but two approaches, three years apart, in which a TAP jet descended far below the safe altitude until a terrain warning or air traffic control stopped it.

The approaches at Madrid and Prague

On 3 September 2023, flight TP1024 from Lisbon, an A321neo with 143 people on board, was cleared for an instrument approach to Madrid in poor weather. The crew set the wrong target altitude, 2,000 feet, and the aircraft descended at about 2,500 feet a minute until the ground-proximity system called "Terrain ahead! Pull up!" at 515 feet above the ground. They went around and landed safely. The first officer had felt unwell earlier in the flight. Portugal's investigation body, GPIAAF, looked at the flight data but did not open an investigation.

On 17 January 2026, flight TP1240, an A320neo, was established on approach to Prague at 4,000 feet when it entered a steep descent, at about 3,000 feet a minute and gathering speed. Air traffic control warned the crew twice. At the second warning the crew reported a terrain alert and climbed away; the lowest point was 968 feet above the ground, against a minimum safe altitude of 3,600 feet above sea level. Czech investigators rated it a serious incident and opened an investigation.

Neither flight hurt anyone, and in both the safety nets worked. But a descent toward terrain on approach is the pattern behind controlled-flight-into-terrain accidents, and two at one airline in three years is the main reason the incidents score is 72.

The Conakry accident

TAP's only fatal accident in the last 20 years did not kill anyone on board. On 2 September 2022, an A320neo landing at night at Conakry, Guinea, hit a motorbike on the runway; the rider, who worked for the airport's dog unit, and his passenger died. Guinea's report put the cause on airport security: untrained staff, poor access control and too few runway police. Under ICAO rules a death caused by an aircraft is an accident, so it counts, but we weigh it lightly, as we did for Frontier after a trespasser was killed at Denver in 2026.

The crash people still remember is older: flight 425, a Boeing 727 that ran off the end of the wet runway at Funchal in 1977, killing 131 of the 164 on board. Nothing comparable has happened at TAP since, across almost half a century of flying to Madeira, Africa and Brazil.

How new is TAP's fleet?

Mostly new. At the end of 2024 TAP flew 99 aircraft, a number capped under its EU restructuring plan. Of its 80 Airbus jets, 57 were new-generation: 19 A330-900neos, 13 long-range A321LRs and 25 A320neos. The Airbus fleet averaged 9.3 years in June 2024, according to the company overview prepared for the sale. The older aircraft are 20 A320ceos, 3 A330ceos and 19 Embraer regional jets flown by Portugália. TAP maintains its own aircraft in Lisbon.

Who will own TAP?

The Portuguese state, for now. Portugal is selling up to 49.9%, and Air France-KLM and the Lufthansa Group submitted final bids on 30 September 2026. Whichever wins, the state keeps the majority, and TAP keeps its own certificate, crews and maintenance. Ownership changes the network and the money, not the day-to-day safety rules.

Flying TAP: what to check

• Flying to Madeira, expect diversions. Funchal closes in strong winds several times a year, and TAP flights then go to Porto Santo or back to Lisbon. That is the airline being careful.
• Look at "operated by" on short routes. TAP Express flights are Portugália Embraer jets with their own certificate.
• Keep your belt fastened when seated. In May 2026 turbulence on an A320 near Lisbon injured two people.

How we scored it

The accident record (86) and EASA oversight (90) are strong, and a mostly neo fleet scores 85. The Madrid and Prague approaches hold incidents at 72, and Funchal plus West African airports put the environment at 80. Overall 84, level with Iberia, TAP's neighbour across the border.