Trouble carrier TAP Portugal has posted a net loss of €112 million for the first half of 2012 – this is a 14.6% fall in performance compared to the same period last year. Revenue was up by 9.3% to €1.08 billion but industrial action and high fuel prices took its toll on the airline’s bottom line. TAP’s fuel bill for the first half of the year was €325 million – a rise of 20% - while industrial action cost the carrier €21.6 million.
There was some good news however within the group, with TAP’s Brazil maintenance and engineering arm, Manutenção e Engenharia do Brazil, narrowing losses from €30.1 million in the 2011 first half to €20.7 million this year. While its ground handling services subsidiary, Groundforce, which was sold at the end of the period, narrowed a first half loss of €7.3million in 2001 to €2.3 million.
Passenger numbers rose 4.7% to 4.7 million, while TAP’s market share at Portuguese airports increased to 41.7%.
TAP Portugal reports net loss of €112 million for H1
