“Between last night (June 5) and this morning (June 6), air operations—both inter-island and domestic and international—were affected by various constraints beyond their control. These are impacting the regularity and punctuality of air operations,” the company stated in a communication sent to the Lusa news agency.
The note reveals that this morning, there was a “temporary limitation on the approach to Ponta Delgada airport [São Miguel Island] due to air traffic restrictions caused by unauthorized balloon launches, which led to diversions and delays for some SATA Air Açores flights.”
SATA also reports an incident involving a ‘bird strike’ (bird collision with an aircraft) “late yesterday [Thursday] upon arrival at Ponta Delgada, which necessitated grounding an Azores Airlines aircraft for mandatory inspection, affecting operations.”
The SATA group also points to “flight operations bound for Porto being constrained by dense fog and limitations in the airport’s approach systems, causing a chain of delays in Azores Airlines operations.”
“These incidents, over which airlines have no control, cause chain delays that are difficult to resolve quickly,” it emphasized.
According to the company, “despite ongoing efforts to minimize the impact of these disruptions on passenger itineraries, the normalization of traffic is occurring gradually,” and passengers affected by cancellations or significant delays “will continue to be informed of any relevant changes.”
SATA “regrets the inconvenience caused” and assures that it “is making every effort to normalize operations as swiftly as possible.”
The most recent incident related to balloon launches occurred this morning in Ponta Delgada.
RTP/Açores reported that the airspace over São Miguel temporarily closed between 11:21 a.m. local time (12:21 p.m. in Lisbon) and 12:30 p.m. due to balloon launches, allegedly by preschool students.
RTP further reported that the temporary airspace closure was for safety reasons, resulting in several flights being diverted to Santa Maria and causing further delays.
The relevant authorities, including the Public Security Police, have been notified about the situation. The kindergarten reported the launch, NAV alerted that the initiative “could not proceed without proper authorization,” and the institution went ahead “regardless.”
Teresa Banha with Lusa | 16:24 – 06/06/2025
The director of Coriscolândia – Centro de Animação Lúdico-Pedagógico, a branch of Kairós (Cooperative for Incubation of Solidarity Economy Initiatives), expressed surprise that the balloon launch, an end-of-school-year activity, impacted air traffic in São Miguel, asserting they notified NAV.
João Pimentel, speaking to Lusa, said that the balloon launch “is an event with nearly 20 years of history,” held annually to mark the school year’s end and “has always proceeded smoothly.”
“Every year we call the airport control tower to inform and request authorization. And yesterday [Thursday], we informed them that we would launch the balloons today. They told us we could do it today between 11:00 a.m. and 11:25 a.m., which we did,” he explained.
According to João Pimentel, before launching the balloons, Coriscolândia “made contact again” with NAV Portugal – Navegação Aérea, which “did not express any objections.”
“We are astonished by what is happening,” he reiterated, adding that he only learned of the situation through “social media” posts.
João Pimentel also mentioned that the “approximately 300 biodegradable balloons” were launched “more than 10 kilometers from the airport.”
Lusa sought information from NAV Portugal, but as of now, there has been no response.
