The SATA Group is celebrating its 83rd anniversary. It was created on August 21, 1941. The "Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aereos” (Azorean Society of Air Studies), founded on August 21, 1941, celebrates today its 83rd anniversary. This company gave rise to Sociedade Açoriana de Transportes Aéreos, SATA.
To celebrate the anniversary, the airlines will offer a prize as part of the giveaway launched on their Instagram page. The prize is a trip for two on any flight operated by SATA Air Açores or Azores Airlines.
Passengers travelling today on the group's airlines, SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines, will be presented with a ritual that marked SATA Air Açores flights over the Atlantic for many decades aboard the offering of candies. The gesture was meant to ease the pressure felt in the ears during certain phases of the flight, which is still part of the memories that older travellers still preserve.
The goal of creating the then “Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aéreos” on August 21, 1941, gained dimension over the years and gained wings on June 15, 1947, with the first flight of “Sociedade Açoriana de Transportes Aéreos, Ltda.”, after an inauguration ceremony offered to more than three hundred guests at the Santana airfield, the only airfield on São Miguel Island.
Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos, Lda. gave way to SATA Air Açores, which today has the mission of connecting the nine islands of the archipelago, carrying out almost 19 thousand flights and transporting more than nine hundred thousand passengers per year, and which was distinguished in 2024 as “Europe’s Leading Regional Airlines” by World Travel Awards.
Part of the same history is Azores Airlines, which added even more ambition to the mission of tackling island isolation and achieved the goal of making the Azores Archipelago more accessible, something it achieves through domestic and international air operations. Azores Airlines carries out around 9,700 flights and transports more than 1 million and four hundred thousand passengers per year, having been cited as the first choice of passengers who travelled to the Azores in the high season in 2023, according to the satisfaction survey promoted by the Observatory of Azores Tourism. In 2024, it was distinguished as “Europe’s Leading Airline to North America” by the World Travel Awards, following its consistent commitment in that market over the years.