The SATA Group airlines, Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores, registered a significant increase in the number of passengers carried during the strongest summer months (July, August, and September), compared to the same period in the pre-pandemic of 2019, according to the Monthly Monitoring of Air Traffic in National Airport Infrastructures data, published by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC).
Azores Airlines, the airline that ensures connections between the Autonomous Region of the Azores and abroad, operating a network of regular regional, national, and international routes, recorded, during the strongest summer months (July, August, and September), an increase of around 62% in the number of passengers carried compared to 2019, reaching close to 70% in September when compared to the pre-pandemic period. According to these data, Azores Airlines is ranked third among airlines operating at national airports.
The airline SATA Air Açores, which operates between the nine islands of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, reported in the third quarter of 2023 an increase of around 37% in the number of passengers carried compared to the same period in 2019 and 8.9% compared to the same period last year.
Any of the SATA Group companies performed above the average of the companies analyzed by ANAC in the third quarter, compared to the pre-pandemic period.
According to the data provided by ANAC, and solely focusing on the month of September, Azores Airlines is ranked as the second airline to have the highest number of passengers carried at Portuguese airports, compared to the same month in 2022, and the third airline to have the highest number of passengers carried compared to September 2019.
These data from ANAC, which monitors air traffic in the National Airport Infrastructures monthly, confirm a record increase in demand, both at Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores, which stand out as the Portuguese airlines that reached these levels of growth compared to the pre-pandemic period.
We remember that the SATA Group airlines once again surpassed themselves by reaching the symbolic mark of one million passengers carried in 2023, around two months earlier than the previous year. The evolution represented a 34% growth in the number of passengers carried compared to the same period last year.
NOTE TO THE EDITOR |
The data presented by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) assumes that, based on the total number of passengers, the doubled number of passengers transported in domestic traffic is canceled.