SATA International Airline Azores:
Ponta Delgada – Lisbon – SATA’s busiest route in 2014

SATA International is a Portuguese airline based in Ponta Delgada, on the Island of São Miguel in the archipelago of Azores, in the Atlantic Ocean west of continental Portugal.

First established in 1990 (initially as OceanAir), the airline saw a rapid and steady development over the next two decades. In 2014 SATA International network included routes to Madeira, mainland Portugal, Europe and to North America. Leisure travellers from United States and Canada may be familiar with SATA International through airlines’ own tour operators existing on the local markets: the Azores Express and the SATA Express (respectively).

Amid the generalized economic crisis which hit hard many European airlines, the fairly small Azorean carrier is doing remarkably well. By June 2014 the airline registered a 21% increase in traffic, as compared to the previous year (2013) results in the corresponding period.

SATA in numbers
By late October 2014 the Portuguese carrier SATA, showed the following figures:

• In the first six months of 2014 SATA carried 553 000 passengers
• The airline serves a total of 17 routes (non-stop) in 8 countries
• Ponta Delgada – Lisbon is by far SATA International’s busiest route, available 17 times weekly

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•  Ponta Delgada – Boston and Ponta Delgada – Toronto-Pearson are the most popular international non-stop routes served by SATA. Flights to Toronto are available twice weekly; the route to Boston is served three times per week.

SATA International fleet
The Azores airline SATA International operates a fleet of eight aircrafts: four Airbuses A310-300 and four Airbuses A320-200. The SATA Air Açores fleet consists of 6 Bombardier Dash airplanes (two Q200 and four Q400) sufficient to cater for the short-haul, inter-island flights in the Azores and Madeira.

SATA domestic destinations from Ponta Delgada
In 2014, SATA’s domestic destinations, operated by the parent company SATA Air Açores from Ponta Delgada Airport included: Corvo, Graciosa, Flores, Horta (Faial), Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge and Terceira in the Azores. Flights to Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports in the continental Portugal, as well as to and Funchal in Madeira, were available from SATA International.

SATA International routes from Ponta Delgada
Year-round international routes served by SATA from Ponta Delgada Airport included destinations as: Boston, Frankfurt, Munich, London-Gatwick, Paris-Orly, Stockholm-Arlanda and Toronto-Pearson.

SATA International seasonal routes from Ponta Delgada were available to Amsterdam, Montreal-Trudeau and Madrid.