The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Angra do Heroísmo (CCIAH) accused SATA this Friday, 21st, of discriminating against the island of Terceira in the reinforcement of air connections at Christmas, calling for the intervention of the regional secretary for Mobility.
“The CCIAH requests the regional secretary of Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructure, Berta Cabral, to intervene to correct this situation and ensure, as a matter of urgency, the restoration of the principle of equity in the distribution of air connections between all the islands”, said the business association, in a statement.
The SATA Group announced on November 13 that the airlines Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores would reinforce operations during the Christmas and New Year period, with an additional 5,000 seats on routes to the Azores and 3,500 seats on inter-island connections.
“This reinforcement includes connections between the Portuguese mainland (Porto and Lisbon) and the Azores archipelago (Ponta Delgada, Santa Maria, Faial and Pico) and between the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores, between December 8th and January 4th, with a greater incidence between December 20th and January 4th”, said SATA, in a press release.
The association that represents businesspeople from the islands of Terceira, São Jorge and Graciosa today expressed its “deep indignation” at the fact that the reinforcement of the operation in this block excludes connections to Terceira, the only one of the five islands with connections to the outside of the archipelago that does not have an increase in available places.
“There is no operational, economic or strategic justification for this decision, which penalizes the second largest economy in the Azores and compromises the mobility of families and companies,” he said in a statement.
The CCIAH accuses SATA of “promoting division within the region, treating citizens unequally who should have the same mobility rights, regardless of the island where they reside”.
“In recent years, businesspeople on the island of Terceira have made a significant investment in tourism development, fully fulfilling their part in affirming the island as a credible and competitive destination. It cannot be a public company, like SATA, limiting this effort, destroying value and hindering the economic growth that the private sector has been promoting with determination”, he stressed.
The business association claims that there has been a “centralization of flights on the island of São Miguel”, promoted by the current SATA administration, which, in addition to penalizing the remaining islands, “represents a clear increase in the company’s own operating costs and hinders the mobility of all Azoreans, creating an unbalanced and inefficient transport model”.
“It becomes increasingly difficult not to conclude that there is, on the part of the company, a stance that conveys the clear impression of a misunderstood pride and a persistent desire to specifically harm the island of Terceira”, he pointed out.
“The widespread feeling among businesspeople, institutions and citizens is that Terceira has been the target of discriminatory and repeated action, incompatible with the public, regional and integrative mission that SATA is obliged to fulfill”, he added.