Misplaced Pages

SATA Air Açores

IATA ICAO Call sign SP SAT SATA
Founded	August 21, 1941
Commenced operations	June 15, 1947
Operating bases	João Paulo II Airport
Focus cities	Lajes Airport Horta Airport
Frequent-flyer program	SATA Imagine
Subsidiaries	Azores Airlines
Fleet size	7
Destinations	13
Parent company	Grupo SATA
Headquarters	Ponta Delgada, São Miguel
Key people	Teresa Gonçalves (CEO)
Website	azoresairlines.pt

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. (through its managing director António de Medeiros e Almeida) established Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aéreos Lda. (English: Azorean Aviation Studies Company, Ltd.) to look into the feasibility of developing an inter-island airline that would link the Azorean archipelago and continental Portugal, and to obtain the government 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 (English: Azorean Air Transport Company) flight occurred from Santa Maria Airport in June 1947. Captain Marciano Veiga piloted the first flight at the controls of a twin-engine Beechcraft (named Açor) with seven passengers.

The Portuguese government granted a temporary concession to the airline, which operated mail, cargo and air passenger services between São Miguel (Santana Field, until 1969), Terceira (at Achada, Lajes) 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 crashed 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 (CS-TAD) with capacity for 26 passengers would enter into by July 1, 1964.

In 1969, Nordela Airport (which would eventually be rechristened João Paulo II International) in Ponta Delgada (Relva) 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 (1972) with a larger capacity and range, that would fly between the newer airports constructed in all nine islands of the archipelago (between 1981 and 1983). 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 (50% interest held by Bensaude & Co.Lda.), but on 17 October 1980 it was reborn as a state-owned enterprise (SOE) operated by the Regional Government and TAP Air Portugal. It became a signatory of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) charters in 1980 when it became an 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 (named Santa Maria) entered service in 1989. Eventually, other planes would be added, reflecting the regional politics, each aircraft would be named after an island (Flores, in 1990, and Graciosa, in 1991), 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 (four in all) 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 (registered CS-TRF and CS-TRG). 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 kilometres (414 mi) per hour, while transporting 80 passengers comfortably for distances up to 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi), 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 the legend. When exploded, each shape can be placed alone in geographical context to form a modernist map of the Azores.

Fleet

Current fleet

The SATA Air Açores fleet consists of the following (as of August 2023):

Historic fleet

SATA Air Açores previously also operated the following aircraft types:

• BAe ATP
• British Aerospace 146
• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas DC-6
• Dornier 228
• Hawker Siddeley HS 748
• de Havilland DH.104 Dove

Incidents and Accidents

• On 11 December 1999, SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crashed on the island of São Jorge in the Azores. The British Aerospace ATP, en route from Ponta Delgada Airport to Horta Airport, was on descent in heavy rain and turbulence. The combination of the weather conditions, the pilots not using the onboard weather radar, imprecise navigation, and the plane not keeping above the minimum safe altitude, the plane crashed into the north face of Pico da Esperança. All 35 people on board were killed.

See also

• Aviation in the Azores

References

Citations

1. "Customer Care Archived 2010-06-08 at the Wayback Machine." SATA. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.
2. "Press Kit 2010." SATA. Retrieved on 7 July 2010. "The SATA Group comprises air transport companies whose decision centre is located in the city of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, in the archipelago of Azores."
3. AviationNews.EU, 2010
4. Lusa/AOonline, 10 June 2008
5. Lusa, 31 March 2008
6. Azorean Spirit, May–July 2009, p. 46
7. Azorean Spirit, May–July 2009, p. 47
8. Azorean Spirit, May–July 2009, pp. 46–49
9. "azoresairlinesblog.com">"Today we welcomed the new Bombardier Q400 aircraft from SATA Air Açores". Azores Airlines. Azores Airlines. 23 August 2022.
10. "https://azoresairlinesblog.com">"Today we welcomed the new Bombardier Q400 aircraft from SATA Air Açores". Azores Airlines. Azores Airlines. 23 August 2022.
11. "azoresairlinesblog.com">"Today we welcomed the new Bombardier Q400 aircraft from SATA Air Açores". Azores Airlines. Azores Airlines. 23 August 2022.
12. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19991211-0 Aviation Safety Network

Sources

• Messias, R. (2009-10-18). "Açores e a Aviação". Revista DI (in Portuguese). No. 340. pp. 16–17.
• "Aviação: SATA quer ligar Açores, Madeira e Canárias com nova frota" [SATA Wants to Link Azores, Madeira and Canaries with New Fleet] (in Portuguese). Lusa/Expresso. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
• "Compra de novos aviões da SATA foi golpe contra os Açores" [Purchase of SATA's Aircraft SATA was a Coup d'etat Against the Azores] (in Portuguese). Lusa/AOnline. 10 June 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
• van Leeuwen, Marcel (26 January 2010). "First Bombardier Q400 NextGen Airliner Headed to SATA Air Açores of the Azores, Portugal". AviationNews.EU. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
• SATA, ed. (20 May 2009). "Imagine Mais". Azorean Spirit. No. 32. Ponta Delgada, Azores: SATA Air Azores. pp. 46–49.
• "ASN Aircraft accident British Aerospace ATP CS-TGM Sao Jorge Island, Acores". Retrieved 27 October 2012.

External links

Media related to SATA Air Açores at Wikimedia Commons

• Grupo SATA Official Website

• Portugal
• Companies
• Aviation

v t e Members of the International Air Transport Association
Africa and the Middle East Region Africa World Airlines AfriJet Air Algérie Air Arabia Air Botswana Air Burkina Air Cairo Air Madagascar Air Mauritius Air Peace Air Seychelles Air Tanzania Airlink Allied Air AlMasria Universal Airlines ASKY Airlines Badr Airlines Camair-Co Congo Airways DHL International Aviation ME Egyptair Emirates Ethiopian Airlines Etihad Airways Fly Baghdad Flydubai FlyEgypt Flynas Gulf Air Iran Air Iran Airtour Iran Aseman Airlines Jazeera Airways Jordan Aviation Kam Air Kenya Airways Kuwait Airways LAM Mozambique Airlines Mauritania Airlines Middle East Airlines Nesma Airlines Nile Air Nouvelair Oman Air Overland Airways Precision Air Qatar Airways Royal Air Maroc Royal Jordanian RwandAir Safair Saudia South African Airways Syrian Air TAAG Angola Airlines Tassili Airlines Tunisair
Asia-Pacific Region Air Calédonie Air India Air New Zealand Air Niugini Air Tahiti Air Tahiti Nui Aircalin All Nippon Airways Asiana Airlines Bamboo Airways Bangkok Airways Batik Air Batik Air Malaysia Biman Bangladesh Airlines Cambodia Angkor Air Cebu Pacific Fiji Airways Garuda Indonesia IndiGo Japan Airlines Japan Transocean Air Jeju Air Jin Air Korean Air Lao Airlines Malaysia Airlines Myanmar Airways International Nippon Cargo Airlines Pakistan International Airlines Philippine Airlines Qantas Royal Brunei Airlines Scoot Singapore Airlines Solomon Airlines SpiceJet SriLankan Airlines T'way Air Thai Airways International Thai Lion Air Thai Smile VietJet Air Vietnam Airlines Virgin Australia Vistara
China and North Asia Region Air Changan Air China Air Guilin Air Koryo Air Macau Beijing Capital Airlines Cathay Pacific China Airlines China Cargo Airlines China Eastern Airlines China Express Airlines China Postal Airlines China Southern Airlines EVA Air Fuzhou Airlines GX Airlines Hainan Airlines Hebei Airlines Hong Kong Airlines Hong Kong Express Juneyao Air Kunming Airlines Loong Air Lucky Air Mandarin Airlines MIAT Mongolian Airlines Okay Airways Ruili Airlines SF Airlines Shandong Airlines Shanghai Airlines Shenzhen Airlines Sichuan Airlines Suparna Airlines Tianjin Airlines UNI Air Urumqi Air West Air XiamenAir YTO Cargo Airlines
Europe Region Aegean Airlines Aer Lingus Aeroflot Air Astana Air Austral airBaltic Air Caraïbes Air Corsica Air Dolomiti Air Europa Air France Air Malta Air Moldova Air Montenegro Air Nostrum Air Serbia AirBridgeCargo AlbaStar Amapola Flyg Amelia (Regourd Aviation) APG Airlines Arkia ASL Airlines Belgium ASL Airlines France ASL Airlines Ireland Atlantic Airways Austrian Airlines Azerbaijan Airlines Azores Airlines Belavia Binter Canarias Braathens Regional Aviation British Airways Brussels Airlines Bulgaria Air Cargolux Carpatair Challenge Airlines IL CityJet Condor Corendon Airlines Corsair International Croatia Airlines Cyprus Airways Czech Airlines DHL Air UK Eastern Airways Edelweiss Air El Al EuroAtlantic Airways European Air Transport Leipzig Eurowings Finnair FlyOne Freebird Airlines French Bee Georgian Airways Hi Fly Iberia Iberojet Icelandair Israir ITA Airways KLM La Compagnie LOT Polish Airlines Lufthansa Cargo CityLine Luxair Martinair MNG Airlines Neos NordStar Nordwind Airlines Olympic Air Pegas Fly Pegasus Airlines Portugália Airlines Poste Air Cargo Privilege Style Qazaq Air Rossiya Airlines RusLine S7 Airlines SATA Air Açores Scandinavian Airlines SCAT Airlines Silk Way West Airlines Smartavia Smartwings Somon Air SunExpress Swiss International Air Lines TAP Air Portugal TAROM TUIfly Turkish Airlines Ukraine International Airlines Ural Airlines Utair Uzbekistan Airways Virgin Atlantic Volotea Vueling Wamos Air White Airways Widerøe World2Fly
The Americas Region ABX Air Aerolíneas Argentinas Aeromar Aeroméxico Air Canada Air Transat Alaska Airlines American Airlines Atlas Air Avianca Avianca Costa Rica Avianca Ecuador Avianca El Salvador Azul Brazilian Airlines Bahamasair Boliviana de Aviación Cargojet Caribbean Airlines Copa Airlines Copa Airlines Colombia (Aero República) Cubana de Aviación Delta Air Lines Eastern Airlines FedEx Express Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes Hawaiian Airlines JetBlue LATAM Airlines Group LATAM Brasil LATAM Cargo Brasil LATAM Cargo Chile LATAM Colombia LATAM Ecuador LATAM Paraguay LATAM Perú Mas Air National Airlines Paranair Polar Air Cargo Ravn Alaska Sky Airline United Airlines UPS Airlines Voepass Linhas Aéreas Volaris WestJet

37°44′28″N 25°41′53″W / 37.74111°N 25.69806°W / 37.74111; -25.69806

• Airlines of Portugal
• European Regions Airline Association
• Airlines established in 1941
• Transport in the Azores
• Portuguese companies established in 1941