LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's airline TAP, which is slated for privatisation, carried 16.1 million passengers last year, a 1.6% rise from 2023, led by North American and Brazilian routes, the company said on Tuesday.

Passenger numbers on North American routes rose by 8.9% to 1.59 million, while more than two million passengers travelled between Brazil and Europe, hailed by the company as a record-breaking achievement after a 7.1% increase from 2023.

The North and South American routes are seen as the company's most significant and profitable as Portugal's government plans to resume the privatisation of the national carrier this year.

Air France-KLM, British Airways-owner IAG and Lufthansa are among those to have expressed an interest in TAP.

The airline said that European travel, excluding Portugal, had a modest uptick of 0.9% to 8.8 million passengers, while routes to and from Africa saw a marginal decline of 0.1% to 1.1 million.

Chief Executive Luis Rodrigues said last month he expected the airline to post another profit in 2025 on commercial and efficiency gains amid a tourism boom.