TAP Air Portugal Launches Big US Expansion With New Routes, New Planes
June is shaping up to be a month of firsts for TAP Air Portugal as the airline expands its presence in the United States. On June 1, the airline will deploy its first Airbus A321-LR on its existing route between Newark (EWR) and Porto (OPO).
On the same day, TAP will also launch service from Chicago O'Hare (ORD), flying to its hub in Lisbon (LIS). TAP will use its new Airbus A330neo jets on the route, marking the first time that the A330neo has been put into regular service from Chicago. TAP was the launch customer of the new A330neo.
On June 10, TAP will debut service from San Francisco (SFO), also serving the route with its A330neo jets. Like from Chicago, TAP says it will be the first regular A330neo service to SFO. If that wasn't enough, the airline will launch service on June 16 between Washington Dulles (IAD) and Lisbon. Chicago, San Francisco and Washington Dulles are all new routes for the airline.
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The new services coincide with the airline reaching the century mark for number of aircraft in its fleet. The number seems likely to keep growing as the airline has another 71 new aircraft set to be delivered by 2025.
All of these new routes mean more options for travelers. In an interesting note, if you're looking to fly on one of the new Airbus "neo" aircraft, TAP is the only airline in the world to operate all versions of Airbus' latest neo planes.
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