SATA sees record passenger growth to the Azores

Monday, 09 August 2010 19:52

In month of July 2010, the airlines of the SATA Group recorded significant growth on most of the routes to and from the Azores.

SATA is a Portuguese carrier based in the Azores Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal. The UK market saw the number of passengers carried from London to Ponta Delgada jump by 79% versus 2009.  Similarly, the German market grew by 31% in terms of the number of passengers transported between Frankfurt and Ponta Delgada (Azores). The recently established routes of Oslo to Ponta Delgada and Madrid to Terceira and Ponta Delgada saw a healthy occupancy rate of 82% and 85% respectively.

While Europe routes had the highest increase in direct traffic to the Azores, SATA also saw positive growth in terms of passengers numbers between North America and the Azores, especially on the Toronto to Terceira route (up by 28% versus 2009) and on flights from Boston and Montreal to Ponta Delgada, where there was an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year.

Maintaining a similar growth trend were flights between Oakland (Calf.) and Terceira as well as between Toronto and Ponta Delgada, registering a growth rate of 14% in the number of passengers carried.

In terms of domestic routes, SATA saw increase of 41% in July 2010 in passengers between Funchal (Madeira) and Ponta Delgada, due to the introduction of new aircraft and options, including flying between the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, or between the Algarve, Madeira and the Azores. This increase in supply was made possible through the introduction of new next-generation Q400 aircraft, offering a higher level of comfort to passengers.

With all this, on July 31, 2010 SATA hit a new record number of passengers carried in a single day. The airlines of the SATA Group, as a whole, transported 9,140 passengers on 98 flights that day. This number represents an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous record set on January 3, 2010, when SATA Air Açores and SATA Internacional together transported 8,720 passengers in one day aboard 86 flights.

This summer, the airlines of the SATA Group are operating in the Azores with flights from Lisbon, Porto, Funchal, Faro, Gran Canaria, Madrid, London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Oslo, Boston, Oakland, Toronto and Montreal.

The total results of air operations, carried out in the month of July, saw SATA Internacional transport 129,287 passengers, registering an annual growth of 18%. From January to July, growth was 10% compared to the same period last year, amounting thus to 550,136 passengers.

As for regular air service within the Azores, SATA Air Açores saw a slight increase (0.4%), with 258,682 seats sold between the months January to July 2010. More information at www.sata.pt