- published: 17 Jul 2012
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Portugália–Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Aéreos, S.A., doing business as Portugália, is a regional airline with its head office in Building 70 on the grounds of Lisbon Portela Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, and a subsidiary of TAP Portugal. When it was an independent company its head office was in Building 70 on the grounds of Portela Airport in Lisbon. It operates scheduled international and domestic services from Lisbon and Porto, as well as European charter services, since 2007 exclusively under TAP flight codes. Its main base is Portela Airport, Lisbon, but it has a secondary hub at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, Porto.
The airline was established on 25 July 1988 as a joint-stock company, but had to wait two years before it could start services, due to a delay in air transport liberalization. It started operations on 7 July 1990 with a flight from Lisbon to Porto. It also flew from Lisbon to Faro that same day. It started operations with scheduled domestic and international charter flights, as scheduled international flights were not then permitted under Portuguese legislation. International scheduled flights started in June 1992 from Lisbon and Porto. On 6 November 2006, TAP and Portugalia's owners Grupo Espirito Santo, announced TAP's acquisition of 99.81% of Portugalia shares, subject to approval by the regulatory authorities. It has 750 employees (at March 2007). Portugalia was to join the SkyTeam Alliance in 2008, but since it was bought by Star Alliance member TAP Portugal, it's not known if it will join Star Alliance as a regional member.