The loans, approved in two orders by the regional secretary for Finance, Planning, and Public Administration, Duarte Freitas, published today in the Official Journal, exhaust the 75 million euros guarantee allocated by the coalition government to the Azorean airline.
The Official Journal states that the two loans, one valued at 31.5 million euros and the other at 8.5 million euros, will be taken out with Novo Banco (31.5 million euros) and Novo Banco dos Açores (8.5 million euros) for “treasury support.”
The technical sheet notes that the loans have a term of “seven years, with two years of grace” and an interest rate of “six-month Euribor plus a spread of 1.00%.”
The order recalls that the Azores Government Council approved a resolution, published in the Official Journal on July 25, authorizing “the provision of guarantees on bank loans and/or other financial entities to be contracted by SATA Air Açores – Sociedade Açoriana de Transportes Aéreos, S.A., amounting to 75,000,000 euros.”
“The granting of a guarantee by the region for the mentioned operation is a necessary condition for its completion,” it states.
With the authorization of these two loans totaling 40 million euros, the Azores government’s guarantee of 75 million euros is exhausted, as two more loans, one of 20 million euros and another of 15 million euros, had already been approved.
In June 2022, the European Commission approved Portuguese state aid to support the airline’s restructuring with loans and state guarantees amounting to 453.25 million euros, including measures such as reorganizing the structure and divesting a controlling stake (51%).
Negotiations are currently underway between the Regional Government and the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium for the privatization of Azores Airlines, part of the SATA Group, a process that the regional executive aims to conclude by September.
The SATA Group reduced losses to 44.2 million euros in the first half of 2025, an improvement of approximately 826,000 euros compared to the negative 45 million euros recorded in the same period last year.
The consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) improved from a negative 6.5 million euros at the end of June 2024 to 1.86 million euros in June 2025, reflecting significant operational recovery.
According to the group, all companies registered positive developments in the first half of 2025.
Azores Airlines – formerly SATA International and responsible for routes between the Azores, the mainland, Madeira, Europe, and North America – improved from a negative EBITDA of 4.9 million euros to a positive result of 300,000 euros, closing the semester with an accumulated net loss of 41.1 million euros, compared to a loss of 37.8 million euros in the first half of 2024.
Meanwhile, at SATA Air Açores – which provides inter-island connections in the archipelago – the EBITDA improved from a negative 1.2 million euros to a positive 1.3 million euros. “The accumulated net result improved by 5.6 million euros, settling at -3.4 million euros, compared to the -9 million euros recorded in the first half of 2024,” states the communiqué released by the Azores group.
