American Airlines Eyes Porto From Philadelphia — But Boston Is the Wild Card

Aviation watchdog JonNYC leaks that American Airlines is expected to add flights to Porto, Portugal. Clearly any such flight for American would be from Philadelphia. United flies the route from Newark, and Delta is launching it from New York JFK. American wouldn’t take this head-on from the New York area, with less connectivity than United and Delta have. They’d do it from their primary transatlantic connecting gateway, Philadelphia.

What U.S. airlines currently fly to OPO (Porto, Portugal)?

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) December 26, 2025

I'd agree

but also what if there is, in addition, a wildcard

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) December 26, 2025

Here’s what’s uniquely surprising. Apparently there’s some consideration of launching Boston – Porto as well.

show 'em who's BOS

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) December 26, 2025

These flights are both shorter than New York – London. In fact, Boston – Porto is just 3,144 miles. That’s just 100 miles farther than Dallas – Anchorage. It’s a flight that could be run on a Boeing 737 MAX. But presumably new narrowbody transatlantic flying would be on American’s Airbus A321XLR – a plane purchased for that purpose. They haven’t ever run the 737 MAX across the Pond.

However, while Boston is a pilot domicile for the 737, it isn’t for Airbus. Adding Boston – Porto on an XLR would require positioning pilots, not just the plane. It would be an added expense, amortized over few seats, and without meaningful connectivity on either end of the route. (However, the A321XLR is expected to fly Boston – Los Angeles already.) Surely, if it were to come to fruition, it would be summer seasonal.

This one does not make much sense to me! That doesn’t mean it couldn’t work. Surely if American were to launch the route they have data that suggests it’s possible it would work. (Not all new routes work!) It would also be very out of character for American which operates very few non-hub routes, let alone a non-hub transatlantic.

I wonder if JonNYC is picking up on very early chatter at American Airlines route planning – what they would do if British Airways parent IAG was successful in its bid to acquire TAP Air Portugal (though Air France KLM especially, and also Lufthansa, seem better-positioned) and if TAP joined their transatlantic joint venture.

They’d have a bigger customer base in Portugal and such a route could make sense, though it’s one that TAP Air Portugal already flies four days a week. This isn’t even an unserved market!

Many of JonNYC’s tips are super early, ultimately happening 2-3 years after he says something is in the works. That he’s hinting here, rather than making a specific claim, tells me this might not be about summer 2026.

American flighes Philadelphia – Lisbon, but that’s not a place where they can expand. Lisbon isn’t just a congested airport, it’s a policy flight. JetBlue lashed out this year over its slot requests being rejected since 2023, and complained that U.S. airlines were being denied access. Porto would be a way of expanding to Lisbon without waiting for a new airport a decade from now.

The U.S. market generated 2.3 million travelers to Portugal in 2024, surprisingly the number 3 source of visitors for the country. About 9.4% of visitors to the country in total were to Porto. While American’s probably skewed more heavily to Lisbon, 9.4% of the total would imply about 215,000 U.S. travelers to Porto in 2024. That’s more likely to be achieved as non-stops between the U.S. and Porto grow.

Porto is a compact, walkable city with the Ribeira riverfront, steep streets, viewpoints, and tiled churches. Port wine and cellar tastings are easy to do on foot, rather than as an all-day excursion. Seafood, northern Portuguese comfort food, and francesinha make it a great foodie stop. And it’s somewhat cheaper to visit than Western Europe capitals.