Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records
LIS→SFO
Lisbon to San Francisco
- Flights
- 422 both ways
- Carriers
- 1
- Distance
- 5,668 mi
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
No public record scores Lisbon to San Francisco International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 422 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about four departures a week in each direction, flown by TAP. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 57.5% of all departures from Lisbon leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 72.3% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 75.3% of SFO's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.
On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Lisbon ranks 36th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.
Key figures
Flights
422
Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)
Carriers
1
TAP Air Portugal
LIS departures on time
57.5%
All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)
SFO domestic on time
75.3%
US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures
Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 1.8 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Lisbon so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from SFO ran about an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.00% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.
Carrier by carrier
Who flies LIS to SFO
TAP Air Portugal is the only carrier the DOT report shows on LIS to SFO, with 422 flights and an average of 251 passengers aboard each. A single-carrier route gives a delayed passenger no same-day alternative on the same ticket, which is worth knowing before booking a tight onward connection.
| Airline | Flights | Share | Per month | Passengers / flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAP Air Portugal | 422 | 100% | 35 | 251 |
DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.
Across the year
How often LIS to SFO flies through the year
The DOT's international report puts 42 flights on the pair in October 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 26 in February 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.
Flights per month, both directions
- July 202536
- August 202534
- September 202538
- October 202542
- November 202534
- December 202536
- January 202634
- February 202626
- March 202632
- April 202634
- May 202636
- June 202640
The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 422 between LIS and SFO from July 2025 to June 2026, about four departures a week in each direction, carrying 105,852 passengers. That makes it the 7th busiest of 9 US routes from Lisbon and the 11th busiest of 13 European routes into SFO.
The departure airport
How Lisbon is running
EUROCONTROL's figures for Lisbon as a whole, every airline and every destination: 57.5% of departures and 72.3% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.6% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 57.5% for departures, in line with the year. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.8 minutes per arriving flight this year, 1.2 over the last week.
| Window | Departures on time | Arrivals on time | Schedules operated | ATFM delay / arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday (21 October 2026) | 66.9% | 80.7% | 97.9% | 0.5 min |
| Last 7 days | 57.5% | 73.9% | 96.7% | 1.2 min |
| Year to date | 57.5% | 72.3% | 96.6% | 1.8 min |
The arrival airport
Landing at San Francisco International
San Francisco International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 75.3% of its 148,532 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running about an hour late, and 1.00% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at SFO reaches a flight from LIS just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.
Domestic on time
75.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)
Avg delay
68 min
Delayed domestic flights only
Cancelled
1.00%
Domestic departures
148,532
Last twelve months
San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month
Your rights
EC 261/2004 on LIS to SFO
Every flight that departs Lisbon falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at San Francisco International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from SFO is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 5,668 miles, 9,120 km, which puts it in the top distance band.
Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →
What to do with this
Booking LIS to SFO
There is no grade to give LIS to SFO without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about four departures a week in each direction, a single carrier, a departure airport that gets 58% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 75% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at SFO; immigration comes before the connecting flight.
Common questions
LIS to SFO questions
How often are LIS to SFO flights delayed?
No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (57.5% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and SFO's domestic record in the DOT data (75.3% on time).
Which airlines fly LIS to SFO?
TAP Air Portugal. TAP Air Portugal accounted for 100% of the 422 flights the DOT counted on the pair.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed LIS to SFO flight?
Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Lisbon are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from SFO is covered only on an EU carrier.
How many flights a day are there from LIS to SFO?
About four departures a week in each direction: the DOT counted 422 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 42 in October 2025 and falling to 26 in February 2026.
Related
Where to go next
- Lisbon (LIS): every US route
- San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics
- LIS to EWR, Newark (EWR)2,069 flights
- LIS to BOS, Boston (BOS)1,889 flights
- LIS to IAD, Washington (IAD)1,678 flights
- LIS to JFK, New York (JFK)1,410 flights
- LHR to SFO, from London4,340 flights
- FRA to SFO, from Frankfurt2,330 flights
- CDG to SFO, from Paris1,679 flights
- MUC to SFO, from Munich1,415 flights
- Every Europe-to-US route and airport
Portugal publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.
Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.