TAP flights to São Tomé TMS

Old Aug 19, 2019, 10:56 am
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TAP flights to São Tomé TMS

Great to see TAP have its own forum!

For the past three years or so, I've been planning to go to TMS, but it's not easy to get there. I don't find it an enticing idea to fly a shorthaul configured Airbus with a stop along the way. (And TAAG Angolan isn't exactly something I look forward to, either. ) But I remember having read somewhere, perhaps a year or two ago, that TAP plans to start flying direct, with longhaul configured narrowbodies.

Now TAP has received their first A321LR. Would anyone have any updates about this?
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 3:24 am
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TMS is not a market that warrants having long-haul biz. It's unlikely that they'll start flying the 321 on this route.
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 3:56 am
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TMS has benefited from a frequency increase due to the narrowbody operation via ACC.

It used to be once a week non stop around 2011
It went from 1 weekly to 3 weekly in 2014
then 4 weekly in 2016 (could only find a link in PT)
So this seems to suit the operation as I see currently still the 4 weekly schedule, not sure TP would have a burning need to go for a non-stop.

There is a non-stop flight from LIS to TMS on STP Airways currently 2 weekly. https://www.stpairways.st/en/ , operated by EuroAtlantic



just for fun, it use to route via ABJ in 1996, 1 weekly :-)
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 4:25 am
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Originally Posted by ffay005
Great to see TAP have its own forum!

For the past three years or so, I've been planning to go to TMS, but it's not easy to get there. I don't find it an enticing idea to fly a shorthaul configured Airbus with a stop along the way. (And TAAG Angolan isn't exactly something I look forward to, either. ) But I remember having read somewhere, perhaps a year or two ago, that TAP plans to start flying direct, with longhaul configured narrowbodies.

Now TAP has received their first A321LR. Would anyone have any updates about this?
Sao Tome is a gem of a destination, but TP's service to the island is a miserable experience. Overlay the unfriendly equipment employed with the general TAP approach to passenger service, then discomfort become inevitable.

I've made the trip twice in the last year or so, and each time there were TP "events" which made a long and uncomfortable journey much, much worse. My economy-class experience was less of a trial the one in business-class - perhaps because it was the second trip, and my expectations were so much lower.

I won't re-hash the awfulness of the business-class journey (a brief report is buried somewhere in this forum), but it started on a super-packed bus, parked for ages in the sun at a remote stand at LIS before boarding, and on the return featured a C-class passenger off-loading himself at Accra with the words "I'll leave you clowns to get on with sorting things out".

Historically, TMS was better served by TP: but this was in the days of generous government "encouragement" to connect Lisbon with the PALOPS - Portuguese-speaking Africa.


Sadly there are only vanishingly small chances of an upgrade to the aircraft used. As you note, competition on the route is virtually non-existent; so while the airline has a limited supply of more comfortable aircraft it could use, these will be employed on routes where there IS competition.
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 5:07 am
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Originally Posted by ffay005
Now TAP has received their first A321LR. Would anyone have any updates about this?
That was the plan in the beginning. Unfortunately, as the ACC-TMS routing seems to have become very lucrative for TP, there are no plans of changing the equipment in the near future.
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 11:31 am
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Alright, thanks for the bad news.

I read somewhere that Euroatlantic will stop operating the direct flights this autumn and that there will be a change of operator. Don't know if that has changed, too, but all I can find is the once-weekly Saturday flight.
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 11:42 am
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Originally Posted by ffay005
Alright, thanks for the bad news.

I read somewhere that Euroatlantic will stop operating the direct flights this autumn and that there will be a change of operator. Don't know if that has changed, too, but all I can find is the once-weekly Saturday flight.
I thought Euroatlantic was also a shareholder in STP airways
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Old Aug 20, 2019, 2:36 pm
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This is what I read in June. No idea whether it still holds true: https://opcaoturismo.pt/wp/en/euroat...para-sao-tome/
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Old Aug 21, 2019, 4:36 am
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KVS shows the flight operating during IATA NWinter with a B763, once weekly, albeit with a different schedule.
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Old Aug 21, 2019, 11:21 am
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googling a bit:
CEIBA Intercontinental (Equatorial Guinea) to replace Euro Atlantic Airways [EAA] (link in French)

Situation looks a bit messy, EuroAtlantic is the biggest shareholder but appears to be kicked out.
https://macauhub.com.mo/2019/06/13/p...dos-estatutos/

So both Ceiba and STP Airways are in the black list of EU, so their EU services operated by White Airways and EAA.
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Old Aug 24, 2019, 4:32 pm
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Now in Portuguese:
Presstur - Governo de São Tomé escolhe Ceiba/White para substituir euroAtlantic na STP Airways
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Old Aug 24, 2019, 5:15 pm
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messy indeed!
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Old Aug 28, 2019, 3:55 am
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Originally Posted by IAN-UK
messy indeed!
It's getting even messier:
Presstur - euroAtlantic desmente acordo da STP com a Ceiba e anuncia que vai reclamar ?avultada indemnização?
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Old Aug 28, 2019, 1:37 pm
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It would be great to know the murky stories behind all these machinations ...
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Old Sep 25, 2019, 10:58 am
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EuroAtlantic Airways says they'll continue to operate the route regardless of the deal with STP Airways: Presstur - euroAtlantic garante continuidade dos voos para São Tomé, mesmo vendendo STP Airways

This will likely bring to 3 the number of players in this market.
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