Netflix begins filming Operação TAP, its first Portuguese film, inspired by a 1980 hijack

Filming begins in Portugal

Netflix said on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, that shooting had started on "Operação TAP", the first film the platform has made in Portugal. The production is run by SPi, the company behind the Netflix series "Glória", and is directed by João Nuno Pinto, whose earlier films include "Mosquito" and "18 Buracos para o Paraíso". Netflix's earlier Portuguese projects were the series "Rabo de Peixe" and "Glória". SAPO reports that no release date has been announced. The film is described as loosely inspired by a real case, and its plot adds fiction built around that event. Pedro Lopes, the screenwriter and creative director at SPi, described the project in a statement:

“Set against a country emerging from a revolution, we built an intense, epic and deeply moving story about a young man who takes the extreme decision to hijack a plane.”

The 1980 flight

The film draws on TAP flight 131, a Boeing 727 that left Lisbon for Faro on 6 May 1980. SIC Notícias reports that 83 passengers and seven crew were on board. A 16-year-old boy boarded with a backpack holding a Walther 6.35 mm pistol loaded with six rounds that belonged to his father. Airport security at the time was far looser than today, a gap SIC Notícias credits for letting the weapon through. Shortly after takeoff the boy went into the cockpit with the gun in his hand, shouting that they were going to Madrid, according to copilot José Correia Guedes, who described the scene to G1. Guedes said the boy's trembling led him to rule out a terrorist operation:

“The situation seemed more dangerous to me, because a professional does not tremble.”

Guedes and commander Coutinho Ramos avoided confronting the boy, but quietly alerted the control tower that the aircraft had been hijacked.

Passengers83

Crew7

Passengers

83

Crew

7

Data from the article text

What the film adds

The official synopsis describes a teenager who diverts the plane to Madrid and demands 10 million dollars, turning passengers and crew into hostages. Observador's standfirst gives the ransom as 10 million euros, while its article body says dollars, and the articles do not resolve the difference. Netflix's press note calls the film an adventure with an 80s feel and a contemporary pace. The platform says the story turns into something nobody expected once a night of fear unfolds. The synopsis also points to an unexpected empathy between the young hijacker and the people he holds.

Cast, crew and production

Afonso Pimentel, Victoria Guerra and Rui Pedro Silva lead the cast, with Rui Pedro Silva playing the teenage hijacker. The script is written by Pedro Lopes, Marina Preguiça Ribeiro and a third writer. SPi belongs to the SP Televisão group, which also made "Glória", the first Portuguese series for Netflix, released in 2021. SAPO notes that Pinto's "Mosquito" won the best foreign film prize at the São Paulo International Film Festival, and that his other credits include "Causa Própria" (2022). Netflix released the official synopsis and the first photograph of the lead actors alongside the announcement.