The Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), in response to a request from Chega reviewed by the Lusa agency, identifies the routes Funchal/Boston, Funchal/Toronto, Funchal/New York, Porto/Boston, Porto/Toronto, Porto/New York, and Ponta Delgada/London as deficit-generating connections.
The Azorean executive also reports that the Terceira/New York, Terceira/Boston, and Ponta Delgada/Milan operations contributed to SATA’s losses in 2024 by posting negative results during winter.
The two airlines of the SATA group, Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores, ended 2024 with a consolidated loss of 82.8 million euros, more than double the previous year’s losses, according to data released by the company on June 8.
In the response submitted to the Legislative Assembly, the Regional Government attributes the group’s results to the lease of aircraft with crew (ACMI), the revision of company agreements (which led to a cost increase of 10 million euros), and a judicial decision that mandated a 6.4-million-euro compensation due to the Airbus A330 known as “Cachalote.”
The increase in maintenance costs, depreciations, and amortizations, in addition to impairments, are also cited as reasons for the group’s losses, despite an increase in flights and passengers in 2024.
“Both in regard to Azores Airlines and Air Açores, and without prejudice to the differentiation of impact in each case, the results of 2024 were affected by a set of extraordinary factors, some non-operational and non-repeatable,” states the document.
According to the provided information, the “routes that show better financial performance” are from Ponta Delgada and Terceira to Lisbon and Porto, and from Ponta Delgada to Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Bilbao, and Frankfurt.
“The board aims to consolidate routes to European destinations by increasing the average revenue per passenger, while concerning the remaining routes, specifically the domestic ones, it intends to increase daily frequencies,” clarifies the Regional Government.
The Azorean executive also promises to disclose the group’s first-quarter 2025 accounts “by the end of the current month.”
The information was released following a demand from Chega for answers about the situation of the Azorean aviation group.
Last year, SATA Internacional – Azores Airlines recorded a net loss of 71.2 million euros, compared to a loss of 26.08 million euros in 2023.
SATA Air Açores reported a net loss of 11.6 million euros in 2024, against a loss of 9.97 million the previous year.
The combined loss of the two companies thus amounted to 82.8 million euros last year, more than double the 36 million reported in 2023.
