TAP Air Portugal safety record
No fatal accident for anyone on board a TAP Air Portugal flight since 1977 — almost fifty years. On airlines like TAP, the chance of being in a fatal accident is about 1 in 80 million per flight.
No fatal accident for anyone on board since 1977
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No fatal accident for anyone on board since 1977
TAP's last fatal accident on board was on 19 November 1977. Flight 425, a Boeing 727 from Brussels via Lisbon, touched down too fast and too far along a short, rain-soaked runway at Funchal, Madeira, ran off the end and fell onto the beach below; 131 of the 164 people on board lost their lives and 33 survived. Madeira's runway has since been lengthened to 2,781 metres.
On 2 September 2022, an A320neo landing at night at Conakry, Guinea, struck a motorcycle that had come onto the runway. The two riders, members of the airport's security staff, lost their lives; no one on board was hurt. Portuguese investigators found the main cause was the motorcycle's entry onto the runway.
TAP's only other fatal accident was a training flight near Lisbon in 1948, with three crew on board. TAP Express, its regional arm (formerly Portugália), has never had one. TAP is registered with IATA's operational safety audit (IOSA), which registered airlines must renew every two years.
Every fatal accident, on one line
Solid dots are its own flights; hollow ones were flown by a partner or subsidiary under its name; grey rings are hijackings and attacks. Fatalities that investigators don't class as accidents (such as trespassers) aren't shown.
Each of these was investigated, and the lessons are built into how every airline flies today. The full list is here if you want it.
Read the full list (2)
- Sep 2022 TP1492 · Airbus A320neo · Conakry, GuineaStruck a motorcycle on the runway while landing at night; the two riders, members of the airport's security staff, were fatally injured and no one on board was hurt. Portuguese investigators found the main cause was the motorcycle's entry onto the runway.
- Nov 1977 TP425 · Boeing 727-200 · Funchal, MadeiraTouched down too fast and too far along a short, rain-soaked runway, ran off the end and fell onto the beach below; 131 of the 164 on board lost their lives and 33 survived. Investigators cited the weather, the speed and point of touchdown, and possible aquaplaning.
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TAP Air Portugal in numbers
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TAP Air Portugal safety questions
How safe is TAP Air Portugal?
No fatal accident for anyone on board a TAP Air Portugal flight since 1977 — almost fifty years. On airlines like TAP, the chance of being in a fatal accident is about 1 in 80 million per flight. Every fact on this page is sourced — the list is at the bottom.
What is TAP Air Portugal's safety rating?
FlyBud doesn't invent a score. What matters is the record, which you can check: no TAP flight has had a fatal accident for anyone on board since 1977 — almost fifty years. It is registered with IATA's operational safety audit (IOSA), which registered airlines must renew every two years.
Has TAP Air Portugal ever crashed?
Yes, in the past: its last fatal accident for anyone on board was flight 425 at Madeira in 1977. In 2022 an A320neo landing at Conakry, Guinea, struck a motorcycle on the runway; the two riders lost their lives and no one on board was hurt.
Where these facts come from
Every fact on this page is from official accident reports, the airline's own filings or the published accident record.
- Aviation Safety Network Flight 425
- Wikipedia Flight 425, investigation and runway extension
- Aviation Safety Network Flight 1492, with the Portuguese investigation report
- Aviation Safety Network 1948 training flight
- TAP Air Portugal FY2025 results passengers
- Wikipedia founding, fleet, TAP Express
- IATA IOSA registration
- IATA IOSA registry IOSA registration
- MIT News / Journal of Air Transport Management (Barnett, 2024) risk per flight 2018–2022
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