Portuguese carrier TAP is to open new transatlantic services with its long-range Airbus A321LR fleet, operating to Montreal, Boston via the Azores, and a new Brazilian destination.

Portuguese carrier TAP is to open new transatlantic services with its long-range Airbus A321LR fleet, operating to Montreal, Boston via the Azores, and a new Brazilian destination.

It will take its North American network to 11 destinations with the six-times-weekly Montreal link.

The airline will also complement its current nonstop operation to Boston next year with a service via the Azores archipelago, stopping in Ponta Delgada.

Boston is a hub for TAP partner JetBlue Airways.

TAP describes the expansion as part of a strategic “conquest” of the North Atlantic.

But it will also expand its network in Brazil to 11 destinations with the addition of flights to the coastal city of Maceio, south of Recife.

TAP says the new Brazilian connection, to be served three times weekly, is its first in five years.

Chief executive Antonoaldo Neves says the A321LR is a “true game-changer”, enabling efficient single-aisle travel on both North and South Atlantic routes.

The A321LR – of which TAP is taking 14 – is part of a broad fleet modernisation for TAP covering 71 new aircraft by 2025.

It withdrew its final Airbus A340s last month – the four-engined jets are being replaced with twin-engined A330neos.