A TAP Air Portugal Jet Shut Down an Engine on Climbout and Turned Back to Lisbon

On July 30, 2026, a TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320neo climbing out of Lisbon shut down its left engine and returned to the airport it had just departed. Flight TP1477, bound for Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, landed safely about 20 minutes after takeoff with no injuries among the 103 people on board.

What happened

The aircraft, registration CS-TVF, departed Humberto Delgado Airport’s runway 02 and was still climbing through roughly 4,000 feet when the crew noticed a problem with the left CFM LEAP-1A engine, consistent with low oil pressure and a possible leak, according to Aviation Herald. The crew shut the engine down, declared PAN PAN, and asked air traffic control for an immediate return.

The jet landed back on runway 02 without further incident. CNN Portugal reported that Lisbon airport paused operations for several minutes afterward so ground crews could inspect the runway for possible oil spillage before other traffic resumed using it.

The distinction matters for how controllers and other traffic respond. A Mayday call commands the airspace; a PAN PAN asks for priority handling while leaving room for a calmer, more deliberate response, which is what TP1477’s return looked like in practice.

Why one engine is enough

An airliner losing an engine sounds alarming, but twin-engine jets like the A320neo are certified to fly, maneuver, and land safely on a single engine. José Correia Guedes, a former TAP captain, told CNN Portugal that pilots retrain for single-engine approaches every six months.

Correia Guedes added that the A320neo can keep flying for an extended period on one engine, though at reduced capability, which is why the crew had time to plan a normal approach rather than treat the shutdown as a crisis.

That is exactly why the crew’s response looked routine from the outside: shut the affected engine down cleanly, declare the appropriate urgency level for controllers, and fly a normal single-engine approach back to the nearest suitable runway, which in this case was the one they had just left.

The occurrence aircraft remained grounded in Lisbon for about 27 hours following the diversion, per Aviation Herald’s tracking of the airframe. Rather than wait for CS-TVF to clear inspection, TAP moved the passengers onto a different tail entirely, the standard playbook whenever a post-incident check is likely to run long.

The left engine on CS-TVF is a CFM International LEAP-1A, the standard powerplant option on the A320neo family alongside Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan.

A single reported oil pressure drop on one engine of a two-engine aircraft is exactly the kind of fault the twin-engine safety margin exists to absorb, which is why the flight ended as a diversion rather than a more urgent emergency.