TAP Air Portugal has announced plans to add three new seasonal routes across the Atlantic in the summer of 2025, though two of them aren’t from Lisbon.
In this post:
TAP Air Portugal’s three new transatlantic routes
TAP Air Portugal plans to add three new seasonal routes in the summer of 2025, which aren’t served by any other airlines. Specifically, the airline will fly:
- 4x weekly between Boston and Porto using Airbus A321LRs
- 4x weekly between Los Angeles and Lisbon using Airbus A330-900neos
- 1x weekly between San Francisco and Terceira using Airbus A330-900neos
Here’s how Carlos Antunes, TAP Air Portugal’s Director for the Americas, describes these routes:
“We’re tremendously excited to announce new service from Logan to Porto, LAX to Lisbon and SFO to the Azores. Los Angeles will become TAP’s eighth US gateway. And, of course, all three new routes include our popular Portugal Stopover program where you can enjoy up to 10 days in Portugal enroute to any of our destinations in Europe, or on the way home, for no additional airfare.”
Let’s take a look at the details…
TAP Air Portugal’s Boston to Porto route
Between May 14 and October 25, 2025, TAP Air Portugal will offer 4x weekly flights between Boston (BOS) and Porto (OPO). The route will be operated by an Airbus A321LR with the following schedule:
TP227 Porto to Boston departing 6:05PM arriving 8:30PM
TP228 Boston to Porto departing 11:00PM arriving 10:35AM (+1 day)
The 3,145-mile route is blocked at 7hr25min westbound and 6hr35min eastbound. It will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, in both directions.
This isn’t the first transatlantic flight that TAP Air Portugal will operate out of Porto, as the airline also flies to Newark (EWR). For that matter, the carrier flies from the airport to both Rio de Janeiro (GIG) and Sao Paulo (GRU).
TAP Air Portugal’s Los Angeles to Lisbon route
Between May 16 and October 25, 2025, TAP Air Portugal will offer 4x weekly flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Lisbon (LIS). The route will be operated by an Airbus A330-900neo with the following schedule:
TP247 Lisbon to Los Angeles departing 9:55AM arriving 2:40PM
TP248 Los Angeles to Lisbon departing 4:40PM arriving 12:00PM (+1 day)
The 5,690-mile route is blocked at 12hr45min westbound and 11hr20min eastbound. It will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, in both directions.
I’ve always found it surprising that TAP Air Portugal doesn’t fly to Los Angeles, so it’s interesting that this will only be a seasonal flight. I guess the airline can better utilize planes on a year-round basis to Latin America. This will be TAP Air Portugal’s eighth gateway in the United States, after Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington (IAD).
TAP Air Portugal’s San Francisco to Terceira route
Between June 3 and August 26, 2025, TAP Air Portugal will offer 1x weekly flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Terceira (TER). The route will be operated by an Airbus A330-900neo with the following schedule:
TP241 Terceira to San Francisco departing 1:00PM arriving 4:45PM
TP240 San Francisco to Terceira departing 6:45PM arriving 11:15AM (+1 day)
The 4,918-mile route is blocked at 10hr45min westbound and 9hr30min eastbound. It will operate on Tuesdays in both directions. San Francisco to Terceira is a new route for the airline, though Azores Airlines flies seasonally from Oakland (OAK) to Terceira using a leased wide body jet. This represents TAP Air Portugal’s transatlantic return to the Azores, as the airline used to fly from Boston to Ponta Delgada (PDL), but discontinued that route. 
Bottom line
TAP Air Portugal is adding three new seasonal routes in the summer of 2025. This includes a new Los Angeles to Lisbon flight, a new Boston to Porto flight, and a new San Francisco to Terceira flight. It’s always fun to see new routes added, so I’m sure many people planning travel to and from Portugal (and beyond) will benefit from this.
What do you make of TAP Air Portugal’s new transatlantic routes?
The question is there enough demand for these routes...
Now, don't get me wrong, Portugal in and of itself is a huge draw today. However, I can't help but wonder if TAP still caters to a substantial amount of U.S.-Africa traffic via its LIS hub.
Years ago, before Lisbon was a renowned and popular destination such that it is today, I flew TAP on the EWR-LIS-FCO route. Probably 2005 or 2006 if I had to guess. At that time, it was by far the...
Now, don't get me wrong, Portugal in and of itself is a huge draw today. However, I can't help but wonder if TAP still caters to a substantial amount of U.S.-Africa traffic via its LIS hub.
Years ago, before Lisbon was a renowned and popular destination such that it is today, I flew TAP on the EWR-LIS-FCO route. Probably 2005 or 2006 if I had to guess. At that time, it was by far the cheapest way to travel between the U.S. and Rome.
The transatlantic A330 flight departed from a decrepit corner of EWR and deplaned via bus upon arrival to a remote stand at LIS. Buses emptied into a chaotic downstairs arrival hall where countless passengers were trying to make connecting flights not only to Europe, but also Africa. Lots and lots of the pax on the EWR-LIS flight were dressed in colorful African clothing and simply connecting beyond Lisbon to various places in Africa. Even if the TAP experience was subpar in terms of product and service, their low prices were right!
Now, I am sure TAP has likely improved tremendously since then. However, I wonder if they still cater extensively to U.S.-Africa connections through its LIS hub. Clearly they did a lot of that in the past, and could always do so with the new LAX-LIS flights as well?
I hope TAP has improved as well. I flew in J class on the EWR-LIS route in the early 2000s, and it was, without a doubt, one of the worst J class experiences I’ve ever had, even for that time. The service was indifferent, and the food was nearly inedible. The only saving grace was avoiding a remote parking situation at LIS. For my return to the USA, I switched flights to London and flew back with Virgin instead. Virgin was fantastic.
While it's true that TAP used to stand for "Take Another Plane," TAP has indeed dramatically improved their intercontinental Business class product. I wouldn't hesitate to take TAP these days.
TAP has an extremely limited Africa network, and to destinations most Americans would not traveling to in volume. Maputo, anyone?
Makes sense, they speak Portuguese in Mozambique.
Maputo is the gateway to the stunning Bazaruto Archipelago, very worthwhile to visit! Likewise TAP to Sao Tome, Dakar, and Cabo Verde, very convenient!
Good Europe growth for SFO/LAX. I did try their A330neo product earlier this year. All in all, it's quite the average experience, between average seats, average food, and average service.
That being said Lisbon is beautiful and wouldn't mind going back nonstop on TAP.
TAP flew to LA in the 80's/early 90's as well with a L15. I am surprised it took them this long to return to LAX.
Do we know when these flights will go on sale?
@Lucky. Really interested in this.
So for the Terceira one, do they double the crew on it or do they stay a week in SFO...
They probably work the other SFO - Lisbon flights since it's already a gateway with service.
I hope the OAK-TER flight sticks around. It's always been one of my top 5 weirdest routes.
Last year it was operated with a Plus Ultra A330.
TAP isn't flying OAK-TER. Their route is SFO-TER 1x weekly each way. The OAK-TER route is flown by Azores Airlines, formerly known as SATA.
Why do you find the absence of an LAX route to be surprising? LAX doesn't have as much S* connecting traffic as SFO. I'm more surprised there isn't N/S service to Milan or Brussels.
There is more point to point at LAX. In fact it’s the busiest P2P airport in the world. Not everything must he connecting traffic. The LA SCMSA has a population in 18.3 million.
In the 80s the TP flight to/from LAX also stopped in Terceira en route.
Thats true. I wonder if would be quicker to fly Sydney-LAX-Lisbon opposed to Sydney-[Dubai/Doha/Istanbul]-Lisbon.
I believe SATA operated BOS-OPO flights in the past with wet leased 767s. Though, I remember the timing being terrible as well. Takes off from Boston at noon and arrives in Porto close to midnight!
I flew this last summer and hope it comes back, I actually loved the timing. It's great having another non-redeye option to Europe, especially flying with kids... IMO losing a night of sleep and not being able to check in to a hotel when you land is not a better option!
I see your point, but for those types of flight, I’d prefer them to take off between midnight and early morning. Taking off at noon and arriving at midnight seems like a waste of a day for me. Taking off at midnight gets you in at noon, and early morning gets you in early evening; all around time for check in.
I don’t have kids, but I’d guess they’d be happy to stay up late...
I see your point, but for those types of flight, I’d prefer them to take off between midnight and early morning. Taking off at noon and arriving at midnight seems like a waste of a day for me. Taking off at midnight gets you in at noon, and early morning gets you in early evening; all around time for check in.
I don’t have kids, but I’d guess they’d be happy to stay up late (at least all the kids in my family seem to like to stay up late), if you had midnight departure, then sleep the whole flight, and you all arrive with half a day to explore or go right to sleep. I can see early mornings being tough for everyone, but a ~4:00 departure arriving ~16:00-17:00 makes more sense to me than a ~7:00 departure (BA) arriving around 19:00-20:00, where the best you can do is get dinner and sleep. Unfortunately, there’s not much choice you can do being so close while flying eastward. From the west coast, you could leave afternoon or late evening and arrive early morning or early evening, respectively.
BTW, how was your experience on that flight? I’ve been debating on SATA for a while, but I had good experience on TAP, and so I’d choose them with a lie flat over a recliner on SATA
Right on about the east coast, the "problem" is that the flights are so short there is not much opportunity for sleep on a redeye, at least not more than a couple hours which would destroy my little ones and we'd lose at least a whole day anyways of them being tired/fussy.
The SATA flight was solid, although being a leased plane from Euroatlantic, I imagine it was a different experience than a typical SATA...
Right on about the east coast, the "problem" is that the flights are so short there is not much opportunity for sleep on a redeye, at least not more than a couple hours which would destroy my little ones and we'd lose at least a whole day anyways of them being tired/fussy.
The SATA flight was solid, although being a leased plane from Euroatlantic, I imagine it was a different experience than a typical SATA flight to PDL, etc. I think we lucked out and got the newer of the two 767s they leased last year. Plane condition was good but seatback entertainment was still limited. Overall, only memorable because of how unique it was, but a pretty basic experience.. not bad, not great. They also operated a BOS - FNC flight last year to little fanfare.
Oh yes, I remember that one as well! They also did Terciera on a Plus Ultra A330, so better seats, although you don't get the all aisle access.
SF to Terceira is really quite the ‘first’ route to start out of Terceira… taking the fight to Azores Airlines, i guess?
Only operated on Tuesdays... That's a bit random and makes it less useful...
It's interesting that this is the Bay Area's second option for nonstop to the Azores. Maybe a local population thing moreso than a tourist route?
It's a local population thing. The Oakland area has a HUGE population of Azoreans, second only to areas of Massachusetts/ Rhode Island. Hence the longstanding summer routes from Oakland to the Azores on various airlines.
There is a somewhat large Azorean diaspora community in the Bay Area.
People on this website are obsessed with diasporas but it's really completely irrelevant here. Azores have some 250k people in total, even if all of them had relatives in the US, it's nowhere near enough to support a direct route to one city. The route will primarily serve tourists from the US, hence the once a week frequency.