TAP Portugal (former known as Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – Portuguese Air Transportations) is the national airline of Portugal, based in Lisbon (Portela Airport) and is a member of the Star Alliance. It operates to destinations in Europe, Africa and North, Central and South America. The airline was founded on 14 March 1945, beginning commercial service on 19 September 1946 from Lisbon to Madrid with a Douglas DC-3 under the name Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP). On 31 December of that year, it began its Linha Aérea Imperial, a twelve-stop service including Luanda, Angola and Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique. 1947 saw the inauguration of its domestic service from Lisbon to Porto. Service to São Tomé and London began In 1953, the airline became a private company and began service to Tangier and Casablanca.in 1949. The one millionth passenger flew on TAP on 19 June 1964, 18 years after the airline began operations. In 1969 service to New York via Santa Maria Island in the Azores began. Boston was added to the New York service the following year. In 1975, TAP was nationalized, becoming a public corporation (Empresa Pública).