SATA Air Açores


SATA Air Açores is a Portuguese airline based in São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Portugal. It operates scheduled passenger, cargo and mail services around the Azores. It provides its own maintenance and handling services and manages four regional airports. Its main base is at João Paulo II Airport, Ponta Delgada. It also maintains a subsidiary for mid- and long-haul flights, Azores Airlines, the former SATA International.

History

On August 21, 1941, a group of investors that included Augusto Rebelo Arruda, José Bensaude, Augusto d'Athayde, Corte Real Soares de Albergaria, Albano de Freitas da Silva and the company Bensaude & Co. Lda. established Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aéreos Lda. to look into the feasibility of developing an inter-island airline that would link the Azorean archipelago and continental Portugal, and to obtain the governmental concession to do so. Augusto Rebelo Arruda eventually transferred his shares to Bensaude & Co. Lda. on September 15, 1947, although the first Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos flight occurred from Santa Maria Airport in June, 1947. Captain Marciano Veiga piloted the first flight at the controls of a twin-engine Beechcraft with seven passengers.
The Portuguese government granted temporary concession to the airline, which operated mail, cargo and air passenger services between São Miguel, Terceira and Santa Maria airports. By May 23, 1948, the airline had received two de Havilland DH.104 Dove aircraft to supplement its operations. On August 5, 1948, one of these Beechcraft failed to take to the air and crashes on take-off: all the passengers and crew were killed, prompting the suspension of flight operations. Two new DH.104 Doves would be delivered on May 23, 1949, with the capacity for nine passengers, and a Douglas DC-3 Dakota with capacity for 26 passengers would enter into by July 1, 1964.
In 1969, Nordela Airport in Ponta Delgada was inaugurated to civil traffic and would become the SATA base of operations. By 1971, TAP Air Portugal would begin Lisbon-Ponta Delgada service, and the airport in Horta, Faial would be inaugurated on August 24, 1971. The airline would eventually replace its aging fleet with Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprops with a larger capacity and range, that would fly between the newer airports constructed in all nine islands of the archipelago. In 1976, the Portuguese Air Force offered two Douglas DC-6 airplanes with a continental range. They were to be used effectively during a TAP strike that allowed SATA to extend their services to Lisbon. By April 14, 1977 it would have transported 1 million passengers throughout the regional market.
It was originally formed as a private company, but on 17 October 1980 it was reborn as a state-owned enterprise operated by the Regional Government and TAP Air Portugal. It became a signatory of the European Regions Airline Association and the International Air Transport Association charters in 1980 when it became a SOE, which it remains as of March 2014. The name of the airline changed in 1980 to SATA Air Açores.
Between 1989 and 1990, the inter-island HS 748 aircraft were gradually replaced by BAe ATP, after the first aircraft entered service in 1989. Eventually other planes would be added, reflecting the regional politics, each aircraft would be named after an island, including a small Dornier 228-212 that was added to link the small island of Corvo, which substituted a CASA C-212 Aviocar Series 100 operated by the Portuguese Air Force. A revitalization program was initiated in the late part of the 2000s to rationalize and upgrade existing aircraft, resulting in a competition between ATR and Bombardier to supply the necessary equipment that met the needs of the archipelago. The decision to purchase Bombardier NextGen aircraft was not without controversy. The latest phase of its fleet renovation, which complies with a 15-20 year plan, began in July 2009, with the entry into service of two Bombardier Q200. It was followed up with a ceremony in Toronto, Ontario, on 25 January 2010, when the first next-generation Bombardier Q400, registration CS-TRD, was unveiled. The first of a series began arriving at the end of January 2010; the second, registration CS-TRE, was received on 11 February, and the remaining planes arrived in March. The Q400 aircraft were projected for the short distance, high density markets with the archipelago and Macaronesian destinations. Its two PW150A engines, allows the planes to cruise at 667 km/hour, while transporting 80 passengers comfortably for distances up 2500 km, markedly within the limits of the archipelago.

Livery

SATA introduced a new logo with the new fleet revitalization; referred to as Blue Island Açor, it was inaugurated with the appearance of the first Bombardier aircraft, the Q200. Based on a year-long effort, and over 100 drafts, the re-imagined modern Açor brand was designed by Ivity-Corp. It is basically a geometric composite of nine-shapes, representing the nine islands of the archipelago, joined to form the ubiquitous Açor identified in legend. When exploded, each shape can be placed alone in geographical context to form a modernist map of the Azores.

Destinations

Fleet

Current Fleet

The SATA Air Açores fleet consists of the following :

Historic fleet