"In general, SATA is on the right track and is effectively managing to grow, to secure revenue, and to grow revenue significantly," Teresa Gonçalves told Lusa News Agency on her last day as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Azores public aviation group.

In the first quarter of 2024, the SATA Group airlines (Azores Airlines/SATA Internacional and SATA Air Açores) continued on their growth trajectory in terms of passengers and revenue, jointly reaching 68.9 million euros (ME), a 24% year-on-year growth, it was announced today.

At Azores Airlines, responsible for the archipelago's connections with the outside world and currently undergoing privatization, net results in that period amounted to negative 25.6 ME (against negative 22.7 ME in the same period last year) and at SATA Air Açores, which provides inter-island connections, they were also negative, at 4.7 ME (which represents a 2.3 ME improvement compared to the same period in 2023).

According to SATA's Chairwoman, who is stepping down today, the company's costs "are more challenging".

"The operation, the context in which we operate, also creates these challenges, because, although it may not seem like it, we operate in very adverse weather conditions, we often have to cancel flights, we have to reschedule flights, we have to postpone flights. So, although it may not seem like it, this creates many constraints for us," she explained.

In addition, she added, there are few aircraft and if one or two experience any operational irregularity, the situation can destabilize the entire network.

"Nevertheless, I think we are on a growth path, we are on a consistent path of improvement and results and we are satisfied with these results for the first quarter. Obviously, it would be much better if we had more positive results, but effectively, given the quarter this is, and given the constraints we had, because this year we were severely affected by bad weather, [...] we ended up having good results," she admitted.

Speaking to Lusa News Agency accompanied by Financial Officer Dinis Modesto, who is also stepping down today, Teresa Gonçalves said that they are both "very hopeful", including with a set of new routes.

"We have Milan, which is experiencing very interesting demand, and therefore the expectation is that it will be a winning bet. We have Faro, which is also experiencing very interesting demand. [...] We have reinforced Montreal, we have reinforced flights to Boston," she pointed out.

In her view, this summer will be interesting in terms of demand.

Teresa Gonçalves, who was SATA's Chairwoman for one year, recalled that the aviation group has "everything it needs to evolve well now", especially because in 2023 it was "above the restructuring plan that had been approved by the European Commission".

"And now it is time to continue working in this direction. Obviously, it is not possible to recover a company that is in great difficulty like SATA overnight. That is impossible. There are many years of bad practices, many years of accumulated debt, and therefore, effectively, this takes time, but we will get there," she concluded.

Teresa Gonçalves took office as Chairwoman of the SATA Group in April 2023, after Luís Rodrigues left to lead TAP.

On 9 April, the Regional Government announced that Teresa Gonçalves had resigned from her position for "personal reasons".

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