Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar TAP Air Portugal
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar-500 (L-1011-385-3) - TAP Air Portugal - CS-TEA (MSN 293B-1239) - Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport (FRA) - 1990s.
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar-500 (L-1011-385-3) - TAP Air Portugal - CS-TEA (MSN 293B-1239) - Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport (FRA) - 1990s.
TAP Air Portugal (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) is Portugal's flag carrier airline. It was founded in March 1945 and performed its first flights in September 1946 with a Douglas DC-3. Today it serves serves destinations in Europe, Africa and North and South America. A very important market for the airline is Brazil. It flies to more destinations in Brazil than other European airlines. Many passengers transit through TAP Portugal's hub Lisbon Airport to fly to Brazil.
TAP entered the widebody era in 1972 after receiving its first Boeing 747-200. The first Lockheed TriStar 500s arrived in 1983. TriStars and a number of smaller Airbus A310 aircraft replaced TAP's Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft on long-haul routes. In the mid-1990s, the TriStars were replaced with Airbus A340s. Today, TAP's long-haul fleet consists of Airbus A330-300 and A330-900neo aircraft.
Lockheed delivered TriStar 500 MSN 293B-1239 to TAP Air Portugal in January 1983 as CS-TEA. It was the first of seven of the type in the TAP-fleet. The aircraft was taken over by BWIA West Indies Airways in December 1994. Later users were LAM Linhas Aéreas De Mocambique, Air Transat, Star Airlines, Gee Bee Air and, in 2005, GlobeJet. The aircraft was withdrawn from use in 2016.
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