Flying Portugal for 80 years

TAP Air Portugal has celebrated its 80th anniversary with several initiatives to mark this special occasion.

The Portuguese national airline was founded on March 14, 1945, by Humberto Delgado.
After several preparatory stages, at that time called Transportes Aéreos Portugueses conducted its first regular commercial flight on September 19, 1946, between Lisbon and Madrid, in a DC-3 Dakota aircraft.

80 years later, TAP is Portugal’s largest showcase in the world and is in the TOP3 of the largest national exporters. In 2024, it transported more than 16 million passengers.

With a fleet of 99 aircraft, this summer the national airline will fly to 84 cities, 10 in North America, 14 in South America, 12 in Africa, 6 in Portugal and 42 in the rest of Europe.

In total, TAP will operate more than 1250 flights per week this summer. The main novelties will be the new flights Lisbon – Los Angeles, Porto – Boston, Terceira – S. Francisco and the resumption of flights to Porto Alegre.

TAP is ranked by Airline Ratings, in 2025, as the safest airline in Europe and the eleventh safest in the world.