TAP Rolls Out New Summer Routes From Porto to the Azores and Cape Verde, Plus Lisbon Links to Athens and Curitiba

TAP, Portugal's flag carrier, has switched on a clutch of new routes this week, opening direct links from Porto to the Azores and Cape Verde and adding fresh long- and short-haul services from Lisbon — a summer expansion that lands as the airline formally exits its state-backed restructuring plan.

The new flights, phased in on 1 and 2 July, lean heavily on Porto's Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro, where TAP is channelling growth while Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport (Portela) sits at the edge of its capacity.

The new services

• Porto–Terceira (Azores): launched 1 July, four flights a week — a new island link from the north.
• Porto–Praia (Cape Verde): from 2 July, three flights a week.
• Lisbon–Athens: from 1 July, adding the Greek capital to the network.
• Lisbon–Curitiba (Brazil): from 2 July, three flights a week, deepening TAP's core South Atlantic market.

The Brazilian push extends further: TAP is raising frequencies to Porto Alegre and Florianópolis to four weekly flights over the summer, reinforcing a country that remains the airline's single most important long-haul market.

Porto's rising profile

The route openings are part of a broader shift north. Porto is set to gain 21 new routes across 2026, six of them intercontinental, as airlines respond to constrained slots in the capital. A Porto–Tel Aviv service is pencilled in for late October, subject to conditions in the region.

For the north of the country, direct intercontinental flights are more than a convenience. They cut journey times for the large emigrant communities in Brazil and Cape Verde, open the region to inbound tourism without a Lisbon connection, and give exporters faster belly-hold cargo links — all reasons regional authorities have long lobbied for a bigger Sá Carneiro.

Timing tied to the restructuring exit

The expansion coincides with a symbolic milestone: 1 July marked the formal end of TAP's restructuring plan, the state-aid-backed programme that has governed the airline's finances since its pandemic-era bailout. Emerging from that framework gives management more freedom to invest in the network — and comes as the government prepares to sell 44.9% of the carrier, with 5% earmarked for employees, to either Lufthansa or Air France-KLM.

A wider route map and stronger traffic numbers strengthen the story the state will tell prospective buyers, who have signalled they want to keep TAP's brand and its role as a hub connecting Europe with Brazil, Africa and North America.

What this means for residents

• Travellers in the north: New direct flights from Porto to the Azores and Cape Verde remove the need to route through Lisbon.
• The Brazilian diaspora: Extra Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Florianópolis frequencies expand options for one of Portugal's largest overseas communities.
• The privatisation: A growing network arriving just as bidders weigh their offers could bolster TAP's value in the sale process.

With Lisbon squeezed and a new airport still years away, TAP's bet on Porto looks less like a one-off summer flourish and more like a structural tilt in how Portugal connects to the world.