Santa Maria Airport (Azores)


Santa Maria Airport is an airport located west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the island of Santa Maria, in the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. A principal hub in transatlantic travel until the end of the 20th century, it was constructed at the start of the Second World War to protect convoys by American troops who were ceded authority until its end. From this period on, the airfield took on a commercial role, reinforced by inter-island travel and connections to Europe, resulting in its obtaining the communication duties for the North Atlantic sector of the airspace corridor.

History

In the context of the Second World War, in July 1941, a Portuguese mission under the command of engineer Colonel Hermínio José de Sousa Serrano, and which included Colonel Frederico Lopes da Silva and Major Fernando Tártaro, visited Santa Maria to study a possible location for an airfield, opting for the plateau known as Pico de Maria Dias. Three years later, technicians from Pan American World Airways arrived on the island, arriving on board the NT Lima in December 1943, and confirmed that the location was optimal for establishing a military airfield to complement the field at Lajes. The airfield would, therefore, assist in the protection of the maritime convoys that crossed the Atlantic to support the port of Murmansk in the Soviet Union, which were being sunk by German U-boats.
The project that was planned, and which was sent for approval to António de Oliveira Salazar, included provisions for an inter-island and a trans-oceanic airport, with the first costing 1.685 million US dollars, and the second 5.125 million US dollars. The final plan, sent to the Portuguese government by Pan American, and contracting the construction was an estimated 3.130 million US dollars, and included:
While the final project was being prepared, the Portuguese Department of Defense authorized immediate execution of the first work, that included a runway to service planes transferred from Lajes Airfield, carrying with them the technicians and equipment. Along with a team of little more than 40 workers, Lieutenant Engineer Correia de Sousa concluded the runway construction. On 8 August 1944, at about 2:15 p.m., the first plane landed on the runway, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain operated by the US Air Force, transporting materials and bread from Terceira. It departed an hour later.
The Americans later extended the taxiways by another, and on 15 November 1944 a new service runway was concluded. Meanwhile, the port was expanded to receive battalions with the equipment necessary to improve the infrastructures and to construct a network to pipe aviation fuel to the plateau. These included: airport infrastructures; roadways; water supply and sewage; residences; and social spaces.
On 11 July 1945 the first Portuguese-registered aircraft landed in Santa Maria, an Avro Anson Mk I from Terceira's Air Base No.4, followed by a C-54 "Skymaster" on 24 July from São Miguel, that included various Portuguese and American authorities visiting the installations to officially inaugurate the aerodrome on the 26 July 1945. The aerodrome was operated by American forces until the end of the conflict, and accounted for 500 airplanes that transited the site.

Civil aviation

The accords between the Portuguese, Great Britain and the United States permitted those forces to use the facilities in Lajes and Santa Maria until 2 June 1946. At that time the American forces base was transferred to Lajes and both airports began to be administered from Portugal. By Decree-law 35/736, later substituted by the Direcção Geral de Aeronáutica Civil. After improvements to the runway, the airplane parking area and installations in the terminal, the airport was inspected by Lieutenant-Colonel Humberto Delgado, for it to be certified for operational traffic. The first airplane to arrive following inspection was a Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, flying the New York-Leopoldville route, stopping at the Santa Maria waypoint on 29 October 1946. Other records refer to a Pan American Lockheed Constellation stopping on the same day.
Following the airport's certification for passenger service, Santa Maria was selected to operate as the air traffic control centre for North Atlantic region, under the responsibility of Portugal by the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization, in the first semester of 1946. During this period, due to an absence of coaxial cable link between Europe and the United States, Santa Maria became an important international centre for communications. Communications were limited to teletype and radio. With the 1965 installation of coaxial cable between the United States and England, all communications between the two continents began to intersect at Santa Maria. The airport was classified an ETOPS alternate, having suitable facilities to accommodate transatlantic flights needing to make an emergency landings.
The Santa Maria International Airport was re-inaugurated officially on 28 November 1946. The existing infrastructures were expanded in the meantime, with residential areas administrated and developed by architect Francisco Keil do Amaral, who tried to maintain the existing characteristics.
On 13 January 1947, Lieutenant Henrique Owen Pinto de Barros da Costa Pessoa was named first director of the airport.
The forerunner of SATA Air Açores initiated services to São Miguel on 5 August 1957, and to Terceira on 9 June 1947, using a Beechcraft D18S christened "Açor".
From 1940 to 1970 the airport was an important link in trans-Atlantic travel and the focus of the island economy and employment. First, during the construction the airport and support structures, attracting workers from São Miguel and the archipelago, then as a hub of aviation activities, supporting air traffic in the North Atlantic. Transportes Aéreos Portugueses and Santa Maria-Montreal. Santa Maria was the unique gateway for passengers entering or exiting the Azores; it served as a destination, stopover and intercontinental waypoints for European, North American, Central American and South American airlines, in addition to Caribbean airways, including:
Commencing in the late 1970s, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed via Santa Maria as a technical stop for refueling on weekly scheduled SST flights between Paris and Caracas.
Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Horta, Ponta Delgada and Beja, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98. With this concession, ANA was also provided to the planning, development and construction of future infrastructures.

District

The airport at Santa Maria was part of a larger complex of buildings and infrastructures constructed in the 20th century. Apart of the airport terminals and ground control facilities, the area later known as Aeroporto locally, included a residential barrio, the services and equipment to support local residences, roadways and many of first signals, public transport stops and electrical transformer stations. The development of this district was important in the development of the island, with many of the installations left by American troops after the Second World War and many of the semi-cylindrical troop-quarters retained after the withdraw of forces. Its North American influence and original purpose marks its differences to local construction; the urban design and buildings, just like many of the projected constructions by architect Keil do Amaral make the district distinct from the other areas of the island. The newer neighborhoods and recent buildings, are of an inferior architectural quality, and correspond to the blocks closer to the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents