Portuguese Flag carrier TAP Air Portugal has added three new seasonal routes to the United States: Boston to Porto, Los Angeles to Lisbon, and San Francisco to Terceira in the Azores. Next summer, the Star Alliance carrier will serve eight US airports across eleven routes, a record for the airline.
Why is TAP expanding from Porto?
Simple Flying sat down with TAP Air Portugal’s Director for the Americas, Carlos Antunes, to learn more about the carrier’s new links to the US in advance of the carrier’s 80th birthday next year. TAP first started service between the USA and Portugal in 1969. The three new destinations announced this week mark a significant growth into areas with high demand and represent the carrier’s willingness to try new strategies to connect unserved destinations, with Antunes noting:
This is the continued expansion of our footprint in the US in North America. We’re putting a lot of hope and expectations in the growth of the market.”
One of the more interesting routes to launch in recent months is TAP’s new link from the North of Portugal to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). When flights begin on May 14th, 2025, TAP will be the only carrier connecting Boston and Porto (OPO). The route will be operated with an Airbus A321LR aircraft, with seats for 168 passengers in each direction, running on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October 25th.
The flights will depart from Porto at 18:05 and arrive in Boston at 20:30, lasting just under seven and a half hours. The return leg is almost an hour shorter, leaving Boston at 23:00 and landing in Porto at 10:35 the following day. Should the route be successful, it could potentially become a year-round service, with Antunes confirming the new link was a way of meeting the demand and expectations in the market:
“There’s a strong, vibrant, participating Portuguese community in the region of Boston, and it’s something that they’ve always asked, ‘What about a flight to Porto”?
Photo: Jonathan E. Hendry | Simple Flying
The Boston area is home to many residents with ties to the north part of Portugal, which is currently only served from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The route is also a way for the Star Alliance carrier to expand in terms of passenger volumes as it faces slot congestion in its primary hub at Lisbon Airport (LIS).
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TAP Air Portugal continues its expansion into the US market.
None of the new routes face any direct competition, and Porto could even see more routes to the US over the coming years. For Antunes, Porto is a welcoming and modern airport where we can expect continued expansion:
“We currently have Newark, now the Boston route, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. They are great additions to our network. Our customers love it, so they have been building good load factors.”
“So Boston to Porto is coming out of this proposition, a way of growing beyond Lisbon and fulfilling demand that exists for Northern Portugal and northern part of Spain as well.”
Photo: The Global Guy | Shutterstock
Azores Airlines previously served the route weekly but has not scheduled it to return next summer. Last year, around 28,000 round-trip passengers flew between Boston and Porto.
Touching down in LAX
One of TAP Air Portugal’s new routes is set to become its longest nonstop service when it launches next summer. The carrier will begin direct flights from its Lisbon hub to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on May 16th. The route was previously served via a stop in the Azores almost 35 years ago and ended in 1990.
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They began in 2024 or will do so in 2025.
The new nonstop route captures traffic on Lisbon’s largest unserved long-haul market, with an estimated 79,000 point-to-point passengers, plus the potential connections over the Portuguese hub. The link will be operated by one of TAP Air Portugal’s Airbus A330-900 aircraft (which seats up to 298 passengers) and initially run on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays through May 25th, before adding a fourth weekly frequency on Saturdays through October 25th.
Flights take off from Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport at 09:55 and arrive in Los Angeles at 14:40, lasting just under 13 hours. The return flights depart Los Angeles at 16:40 and take 11 hours and 20 minutes, landing in Portugal at 12:00 the next day.
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Simple Flying talks to TAP Air Portugal’s Director for the Americas, Carlos Antunes, about the airline’s stopover package, loyalty, and privatization.
The carrier already serves San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in California, but the new link will provide passengers with more options and capture demand from Europe to the City of Angels. According to Antunes, Los Angeles has a mix of incoming and outgoing passengers, and the new link allows travelers to create their own California and Pacific Coast Highway road trips:
“Los Angeles is also an attraction. It’s a destination. We can sell it in Portugal and beyond as a destination and create the possibility of these combined trips in California, coming into LA, leaving out from San Francisco, and vice versa.”
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
Much like the Boston to Porto route, the Los Angeles link could be extended to a year-round service, with officials confirming bookings over the last three days since the flight launched have been doing “very well.” Los Angeles will become TAP’s eighth US gateway, with the carrier also serving Boston, Miami, Chicago ORD, New York JFK, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles.
All aboard for the Azores
One of the other interesting routes to launch this week is from California to the island of Terceira (TER) in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the Atlantic Ocean. The airport pair was last served by TAP in 1990, but the Bay Area has seen service from Azores Airlines to Oakland (OAK).
The direct flight to the Azores will serve the large Azorean community residing in California and be operated by an Airbus A330-900 neo aircraft through August 26th, 2025. The route also allows passengers to connect to the other eight islands in the Azores or onwards to Portugal and TAP’s network across Europe and Africa, with Antunes noting:
“There are some very strong individuals and community leaders of the Azorean community in the region. There is an opportunity to allow them, their relatives, their friends, tourists in general, and Californians direct access to the Azores.
“We’re very excited because every indicator we have right now tells us that these roots are going to be a success”
Photo: FCG | Shutterstock
Passengers connecting to TAP’s onward destinations comprise a significant part of the airline’s operations, and many of them take advantage of the airline’s robust stopover package. The program even offers a 25% discount for domestic flights booked as part of a long-haul journey.
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Some airlines allow a long layover at their base airport for no extra cost; let’s take a deep dive into the Portuguese flag carrier’s option.