SATA Air Acores
Encyclopedia
SATA Air Açores is an airline
based in 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 4 regional airports. Its main base is at João Paulo II Airport
, Ponta Delgada.
and continental Portugal
, and to obtain the governmental concession to do so. Augusto Rebelo Arruda eventually transferred his shares to Bensaúde & Co. on September 15, 1947, although the first Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos (English: Azorean Society for Aviation Transport) 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 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 crashes 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 Bensaúde & Co.), but by 1980 it was a state-owned company 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 a public company, changing its name 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 for 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.
, joined to form the ubiquitous Açor identified in legend. When exploded, each shape can be placed alone in geographical context to form a modernist map of the Azores.
, 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 Macronesian destinations. Its two PW150A engines, allows the planes to cruise at 667 km/hour, while transporting 80 passengers comfortably for distances up 2500 km, markedly within the limits of the archipelago. Further, as António Gomes de Menezes (President) affirmed, the operating range of the airline allowed SATA Air Açores to expand their services in the archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries with the new aircraft.
The SATA Air Açores fleet consists of the following (as of 28 July 2010):
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
based in Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...
in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. It operates scheduled passenger, cargo and mail services around the Azores. It provides its own maintenance and handling services and manages 4 regional airports. Its main base is at João Paulo II Airport
João Paulo II Airport
-External links:*...
, Ponta Delgada.
History
On August 21, 1941, a group of investors that included Augusto Rebelo Arruda, José Bensaúde, Augusto d'Athayde, Corte Real Soares de Albergaria, Albano de Freitas da Silva and the company Bensaúde & Co. Lda. (through its managing director António de Medeiros e Almeida) established Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aeréas Lda. (English: Azorean Society for Aviation Studies, Ltd.) to look into the feasibility of developing an inter-island airline that would link the Azorean archipelagoAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
and continental Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and to obtain the governmental concession to do so. Augusto Rebelo Arruda eventually transferred his shares to Bensaúde & Co. on September 15, 1947, although the first Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos (English: Azorean Society for Aviation Transport) flight occurred from Santa Maria Airport
Santa Maria Airport (Azores)
Santa Maria Airport is an airport on Santa Maria Island, in the autonomous region of the Azores, Portugal, serving the municipality of Vila do Porto, within the archipelago and to the continent...
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 temporary concession to the airline, which operated mail, cargo and air passenger services between São Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
(Santana Field, until 1969), Terceira
Terceira Island
Referred to as the “Ilha Lilás” , Terceira is an island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 56,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 396.75 km²...
(at Achada
Achada
Achada is a civil parish in the municipality Nordeste on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. With a land area of 11.54 km² and a population in 2001 of 503, Achada had a population density of 42 inhabitants/km².-History:...
, Lajes
Lajes
Lajes is Portuguese for "covering of flat rock", or "flagstone", and may refer to:=*Lajes, Rio Grande do Norte*Lages, Santa Catarina , Brazil*Lajes Pintadas, Rio Grande do Norte- Archipelago of the Azores :...
) and Santa Maria
Santa Maria Airport (Azores)
Santa Maria Airport is an airport on Santa Maria Island, in the autonomous region of the Azores, Portugal, serving the municipality of Vila do Porto, within the archipelago and to the continent...
airports. By May 23, 1948 the airline had received two de Havilland DH.104 Dove
De Havilland Dove
The de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the biplane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and was one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs...
aircraft to supplement its operations. On August 5, 1948, one of these Beechcraft failed to take to the air and crashes 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
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
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
Horta (Azores)
Horta is a single municipality and city in the western part of the Archipealgo of the Azores, encompassing the island of Faial. Horta has a population of about approximately 15,038 people and an area of 173.1 square kilometers. The population density is about 88 persons per square kilometer...
, Faial
Faial Island
Faial Island , also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island of the Central Group of the Azores....
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
Portuguese Air Force
The Portuguese Air Force is the air force of Portugal. Formed on July 1, 1952, with the Aeronáutica Militar and Aviação Naval united in a single independent Air Force, it is one of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its origins dates back to 1912, when the military aviation...
offered two Douglas DC-6
Douglas DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
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 Bensaúde & Co.), but by 1980 it was a state-owned company operated by the Regional Government
Political status of the Autonomous Region of the Azores
The political status of the Autonomous Region of the Azores is the standard paralegal constitutional framework for the autonomy of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores...
and TAP Air Portugal. It became a signatory of the European Regions Airline Association
European Regions Airline Association
Founded in 1980, European Regions Airline Association, ERA, is a non-profit trade association representing almost 200 companies involved in European air transport, including airlines, airframe and engine manufacturers, airports, suppliers and service providers from all over Europe.The Association...
(ERA) and the International Air Transport Association
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA) charters in 1980 when it became a public company, changing its name 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 for an island (Flores, in 1990, and Graciosa, in 1991), including a small Dornier 228-212
Dornier Do 228
The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by Dornier GmbH from 1981 until 1998. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics bought a production licence and manufactures the 228 for the Asian market sphere. Approximately 270 Do 228 were built at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany and...
that was added to link the small island of Corvo
Corvo Island
Corvo Island , literally the Island of the Crow, is the smallest and the northernmost island of the Azores archipelago and the northernmost in Macaronesia, with a population of approximately 468 inhabitants constituting the smallest single municipality in Azores and in Portugal.-History:A small...
, which substituted a CASA C-212 Aviocar Series 100 operated by the Portuguese Air Force
Portuguese Air Force
The Portuguese Air Force is the air force of Portugal. Formed on July 1, 1952, with the Aeronáutica Militar and Aviação Naval united in a single independent Air Force, it is one of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its origins dates back to 1912, when the military aviation...
. 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.
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. Base 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 archipelagoAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, joined to form the ubiquitous Açor identified in legend. When exploded, each shape can be placed alone in geographical context to form a modernist map of the Azores.
Fleet
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 TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, 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 Macronesian destinations. Its two PW150A engines, allows the planes to cruise at 667 km/hour, while transporting 80 passengers comfortably for distances up 2500 km, markedly within the limits of the archipelago. Further, as António Gomes de Menezes (President) affirmed, the operating range of the airline allowed SATA Air Açores to expand their services in the archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries with the new aircraft.
The SATA Air Açores fleet consists of the following (as of 28 July 2010):
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 | 2 | 37 | Ex-Horizon Air Horizon Air Horizon Air Industries, Inc. is a regional low-cost airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA, serving 52 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.... |
| Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 | 4 | 80 |