TAP worsened its loss in the first half to 99 million euros, a 41% decline compared to -69 million euros in the same period last year. This result was influenced by an 8% increase in operating expenses to 2.1 billion euros, with a highlight for the 18% rise in fuel costs to 566 million euros. Personnel costs increased 7% to 519 million euros and aircraft maintenance costs grew 45% to 51 million euros. EBITDA fell 27% to 170 million euros and EBIT was negative at 95 million euros.
Operating revenues increased 4% to two billion euros, driven by ticket revenues that rose 4% to 1.8 billion euros, reflecting the robustness of demand in TAP's strategic markets. In the first half, 8.2 million passengers were carried, up 4.2% from the same period last year, and load factor reached 85.4%, an improvement of 3.4 percentage points. Traffic measured in RPK increased 5.9%, above the capacity growth of 1.7%.
TAP reinforced its financial position during the semester, successfully completing a 350 million euro senior notes issuance. At the end of June, the company had a cash position of 1.2 billion euros. The semester was also marked by the completion of the Restructuring Plan and the launch of the new Strategic Plan 2026-2035, oriented towards growing long-haul routes and digital transformation through the Horizon Program.
TAP's CEO, Luís Rodrigues, stated that the strong increase in fuel prices pressured performance in the second quarter, but that the company maintained resilient performance with growing revenues. The strategic plan aims at creating sustainable value, focusing on revenue quality, operational resilience, and sustainable growth.
