“The permanent monitoring of the demand for interisland flights allowed the Government of the Azores and SATA airline to confirm the growth of the last months, with an increase on some routes”, explains the Regional Government, in a statement.

This is the “fifth increase of the contracted offer, under the concession contract of the public regular air transport service within the Autonomous Region of the Azores, between 1 April and 30 September, 2021”, the note reads.

The 36 flights announced on 11 August, in addition to the 169 extra connections, are “a new demonstration of the relevance and importance of this initiative for the regional public interest, for interisland mobility, territorial and social cohesion and, above all, to respond to the evident needs of the population of the Azores”.

The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition government also says that it is “fair to recognize the effectiveness of the monitoring and operational response model implemented in order to harmonize the response to those needs, maintaining a supply capacity that also responds to the evolution of tourist demand”.

“The Regional Secretariat for Transport, Tourism and Energy will, therefore, continue to monitor the behavior of the market, permanently evaluating the evolution of demand, in order to intervene and adjust the operation whenever justified”, assures the government of Azores.

In the same note, it was highlighted that the “success of the so-called 'Azores Tariff'”, which came into force on 1 June and provides interisland air travel at 60 € for archipelago residents, “has been notorious throughout the region, allowing for a unprecedented increase in inter-island mobility by Azoreans".