Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS) Flights & Flight Status

Portugal’s current primary airport exists on borrowed time. Scheduled for decommission, it will be replaced in 2034 by the new Luís de Camões Airport further from the city. There are many reasons why this is a good thing. Primarily because it’s one of Europe’s most congested airports and regularly ranks among the world’s worst for customer satisfaction.

It’s also one of few whose flight path goes directly over the city it serves, creating noise and air pollution for residents. Don’t let that put you off though! Lisbon is an incredible city, Portugal an incredible country, and if you know where the hurdles are you can come prepared.

Arrivals and connections

At Humberto Delgado, Terminal 1 handles all arrivals as well as the majority of departures. If you fly in on a budget carrier, your plane will park at Terminal 2 and you’ll then be bussed to Terminal 1, which takes an age. This makes Terminal 1 a bottleneck, particularly if you’re coming from a Non-Schengen destination like the UK or US and are pushed through passport control. If you’re coming from a Schengen destination, you can go straight to baggage collection.

Connecting to another flight? Where possible plan for it to be from Terminal 1. There’s no airside link at all between Terminals 1 and 2, even for connections. That means you’ll need to pass security and passport control at Terminal 1, take the 20-minute shuttle bus to Terminal 2 and then go back through security and passport control to connect.

How long this will take is a lottery, but it’s always time consuming. Terminal 2 in particular is very poorly equipped for the kind of passenger numbers it currently handles and is the major reason for the airport’s poor ratings. If you haven’t booked the connection as part of a single journey with the same airline, there’s no support should you miss your connecting flight.

If you do need to make this multi-terminal transfer, give yourself several hours. As crazy as it sounds, I’d say four to be safe. In such circumstances, my advice is to book an incoming morning flight and outgoing afternoon flight to give yourself the best chance of avoiding delays. With low-cost carriers, delays tend to build up over the course of the day and are worst in the evenings. If your incoming flight is late, your outgoing flight won’t wait for you.

Travelling to and from Lisbon and beyond

Humberto Delgado airport is incredibly close to Lisbon – just four miles from the city centre. Useful for commuting, not so great for Lisbon’s residents. That proximity means there are many ways in and out, with most taking around 2030 minutes and costing comparatively little. There are even two dedicated bicycle paths, should you be embarking on a cycle tour.

Underground and train

The Aeroporto–Saldanha underground line connects the city centre to Terminal 1 in about 20 minutes. As all flights come into Terminal 1, it’s very convenient for arrivals. If you’re departing from Terminal 2, you’ll need to take the shuttle from Terminal 1, which will take another 20 or so minutes. Lisbon’s underground system is great – cheap, clean and convenient. Each station also has its own theme, so it’s a lovely introduction to the city.

For travel beyond Lisbon, the same underground line will take you to Gare do Oriente, the beautiful main station, in around ten minutes. From here you can connect to the excellent national train network, Comboios de Portugal. For lovely Sintra and the spectacular Palace of Pena, head to Rossio station. For Cascais, you want Cais do Sodré station. If you’re heading north to Porto or south to the Algarve, you’re better off flying there directly.

Bus and coach

The Carris bus network runs regular buses into Lisbon, but its efficiency is very dependent on traffic. More importantly, city buses will only allow bags up to 50 cm x 40 cm x 20 cm onboard, so they’re a no-go if you’ve gone big on your packing. For onward travel around Portugal and Europe, the ubiquitous Flixbus service connects to almost everywhere.

Taxi and shuttle

The airport runs a dedicated shuttle service, which is basically an overpriced taxi you have to prebook online. Standard cabs are the easiest way to commute between city and airport. You’ll find taxi ranks outside departures and arrivals, but their convenience also makes them popular, so expect queues.

Travel times are traffic dependent of course, but expect anything from 15 to 30 minutes. Make sure the meter is turned on before you leave and don’t be surprised to be charged extra for luggage. Even so, cabs are cheap compared to other European cities.

Car hire

Portugal’s golden beaches and rolling hinterlands are well worth exploring, and that’s easiest by car. There are lots of hire agencies capitalising on the airport’s travel hub status, some reasonable, many bad. I’ve tried them all and can say for certain there are few places where paying for a top-end service is more important. Opt for Sixt, Hertz or Europcar.

High season in particular is a nightmare with the budget hire operators (none more so than Goldcar). With car parks far from the airport, shuttles take around 15 minutes to get there. That, however, doesn’t include queueing. And with not enough shuttles to handle demand, it’s not uncommon to wait an hour just to get on a shuttle, only to then queue again to collect your car.

Navigating the airport

Humberto Delgado hosted around 34 million travellers in 2023. It is not designed to handle such numbers and as a result is often very chaotic and stressful.

Terminal 1 is by far the bigger and despite being older, the more modern thanks to expansions and upgrades. It’s home to long-haul flights, Star Alliance and oneworld airlines, easyJet, and is the headquarters for TAP Air, Portugal’s flag carrier. It’s a major connecting point to the Americas and has more routes to Brazil than anywhere else in Europe.

The smaller, newer Terminal 2 is exclusively for low-cost airlines. Built to handle domestic flights before the onslaught of budget carriers changed the game, it has neither the size nor infrastructure to handle the volume of traffic passing through. If you do have to travel through Terminal 2, try to avoid peak seasons and Fridays to Sundays.

Check in, security and passport control

There are two check-in halls in Terminal 1 – the older one for TAP Air’s self check-in desks and a newer one housing 68 desks for everyone else. Terminal 2 has just 22 check-in desks for all of its low-cost carriers. There aren’t enough desks in either and queues are inevitable, with Terminal 2 particularly trying. High season is a zoo and you should do everything you can to avoid it.

If you do have check-in bags, come prepared. Give yourself two hours and bring entertainment for the kids. Anything with headphones is particularly useful as the areas can get noisy. While there are landside cafés at Terminal 1, it’s vending machines at Terminal 2 so bring your own snacks and drinks.

Security is typical of any airport not using modern smart scanners. In my experience it’s certainly not as bad as check in, but I’ve waited between 15 and 45 minutes to get through on recent visits. The big catch however is the passport control for non-Schengen flights.

Located after duty free and the shopping area, there are nowhere near enough passport desks for the mass of travellers passing through. Many are in a panic as their flights are boarding and they haven’t factored in passport checks – I’ve seen queues of 100+ people with only two booths open before. Give yourself plenty of time and avoid the last minute rush.

Shopping and eating airside

Walking airside at Terminal 1 makes you think the airport chose to invest its time and money in amenities rather than facilities. There’s a wealth of shops including a smattering of high end fashion stores and the usual airport staples. By far and away the coolest shop is Mundo Fantástico da Sardinha Portuguesa, a colourful, madcap store dedicated purely to that most Portuguese of things, the sardine. It’s great for gifts.

There’s a food court that’s mostly fast food and cafés. In fact there are no real restaurants as such, just lots of tapas type bites. My pick would be O Mercado, a pseudo market-come-restaurant that serves decent cod cakes and pastel de nata. Elsewhere there are three cheap but acceptable lounges. The ANA lounge has showers (for an extra fee) and the TAP Premium lounge has a kid’s play area so is best for families.

Terminal 2 has little in the way of facilities thanks to its diminutive size and lack of space even for passengers (there’s never enough seating). You’ll find duty free, a couple of café bars and a McDonald's. Make sure your devices are fully charged, as there’s always big competition for the very few power points dotted around.