The announcement by the airline ensures the continuation of the direct connection between Southern California and Portugal, which was set to end on October 25, with TAP being the only airline operating the route between Los Angeles and Lisbon.
The airline stated in a communication that this is the longest flight across all its routes, with three weekly services scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, utilizing Airbus A330-900 aircraft.
This marks the first time TAP occupies its own space at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
When the route was inaugurated on May 16, TAP CEO Luís Rodrigues stated to Lusa that this was a long-term investment aimed at taking advantage of the growing relationship between Portugal and California, which has intensified in recent years.
“If this route performs better than others, we can and must consider reallocating resources here,” he emphasized at the time.
It has been over two decades since there was a direct link between Portugal and Southern California, where several Portuguese-American communities previously used other routes or airlines to visit the country.
Los Angeles will also host two major sporting events in the near future, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028, which Luís Rodrigues mentioned as excellent opportunities to solidify the route.
With the permanent addition of the city, TAP now has eight gateways in the United States: Los Angeles, New York, Newark, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
The airline also announced that during the summer it will operate over 100 weekly flights to North America, including Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and Cancún in Mexico.
