Orlando to Lisbon nonstop flights start today. TAP Air Portugal's first flight from Lisbon to Orlando is scheduled to take off Thursday afternoon Lisbon time and land in Orlando Thursday evening, with the first return flight heading back to Lisbon overnight. TAP says it's the first airline ever to fly nonstop between the two cities. For Central Florida, that means a direct way to Portugal for the first time, and a one-stop connection to a long list of cities in Europe and Africa through TAP's hub in Lisbon.
The Schedule
The route runs three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flights leave Lisbon in the early afternoon and arrive in Orlando in the late afternoon or evening, a trip of about nine and a half hours. The return leaves Orlando in the evening and lands in Lisbon the next morning, closer to eight hours thanks to the tailwinds heading east.
TAP is using two versions of the Airbus A330. Thursday and Saturday flights get its newer A330-900neo, while Monday flights use the older A330-200. The newer plane has more modern cabins, so if that matters to you, it's worth checking which one your date uses. Times can shift around the launch, and today's first flight is scheduled a little later than the original timetable, so check your exact flight in the TAP app.
Mon: Airbus A330-200
Who It's For
The obvious market is Portugal itself. Lisbon has become one of Europe's most popular cities for American travelers, and until now, getting there from Orlando meant connecting somewhere on the East Coast or in Europe. Now it's one flight.
The bigger value may be what's on the other side. TAP's Lisbon hub connects to dozens of cities across Europe, as well as Africa and Brazil, so the route works as a one-stop option from Orlando to places like Madrid, Paris, Rome or Cape Verde. Going the other way, it gives Portuguese and European families a direct way to Florida's theme parks, which is the traffic TAP is betting on to fill the plane.
Orlando becomes TAP's second Florida destination after Miami, and it lands during a busy week for the airport, with Emirates switching its daily Dubai flight to its newest plane on Sunday. It also comes at an interesting moment for TAP itself. Earlier this month, Portugal's government picked Lufthansa to buy up to 49.9% of the airline, a deal that still needs regulators' approval and could eventually change how TAP connects with the rest of Europe.
