Azorean government authorizes payment of 31 million euros to SATA Air Açores

The Azorean Government today authorized the payment to SATA of the amounts to restore the financial balance of the Concession Contract for Regular Air Transport Services in the region between 2021-2026, in the amount of 31.4 million euros (ME).

The Government Council, meeting today in the town of Santa Cruz da Graciosa, as part of a two-day statutory visit, approved the resolution that authorizes the payment to SATA Air Açores “of the amounts relating to the restoration of the financial balance of the Concession Contract for Regular Air Transport Services in the Interior of the Region – 2021-2026, for the 3rd year of the concession, between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024”.

According to the regional secretary for Agriculture and Food, António Ventura, who read the statement, the payment is related to “costs and flights not foreseen in the contract”, carried out in the third year of the concession.

The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition executive recalls that, on September 28, 2021, the “Regular Air Transport Service Concession Contract within the Autonomous Region of the Azores – 2021 – 2026” was signed between the Government of the Azores and SATA Air Açores, with effect from November 1, 2021.

“The operating plans presented by SATA Air Açores, in addition to respecting the requirements imposed by the specifications and public service obligations, foresee the transport of all air traffic from the previous homologous period, which represents a permanent adjustment to the demand verified on all concessioned routes and the maximization of network connectivity, by using more aircraft than foreseen in the concession contract”, it reads.

The statement states that, in order to “continue to guarantee and improve the quality of the service provided in the region, SATA Air Açores carried out, in the third year of the concession, unscheduled flights, in order to accommodate the growing number of passengers”.

It adds that the number of passengers disembarking on inter-island flights “has increased by around 78% since the date of preparation of public service obligations”.

“In addition to the increase in operational activity compared to the contractual amount, the increase in airport taxes and fuel prices, and other impacts of the global inflationary crisis, have also significantly increased the concessionaire's operating costs, although it is prohibited from unilaterally increasing the price of transport tariffs that are set in the public service obligations”, he explains.

The Government of the Azores also clarifies that it requested an independent entity to carry out an assessment, with the aim of “calculating the losses incurred by the concessionaire of the public air transport service within the region”, which “confirmed and quantified their existence”.

The Azorean executive also approved today a resolution declaring direct financial cooperation for the candidacy of the municipality of Nordeste regarding the rehabilitation and adaptation of a building to house the headquarters of the Algarve Parish Council.

The Regional Fund for Support for Cohesion and Economic Development was also authorized to enter into an inter-administrative contract with Eletricidade dos Açores (EDA) to assume “part of the financial costs arising from the ship charter contract entered into between that Fund and Transinsular – Transportes Marítimo Insulares, SA”.

The Regional Government also gave the green light to the opening of a public procurement procedure, through a direct adjustment procedure, to form a concession contract for the private use of the bar at the Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Center, on the island of Faial, for a period of three years.