SATA Air Açores

SATA Air Açores is an airline based in São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Portugal. It operates scheduled passenger, cargo and mail services around the Azores. It provides its own maintenance and handling services and manages four regional airports. Its main base is at João Paulo II Airport, Ponta Delgada. It also maintains a subsidiary for mid- and long-haul flights, Azores Airlines, the former SATA International.HistoryOn August 21, 1941, a group of investors that included Augusto Rebelo Arruda, José Bensaúde, Augusto d'Athayde, Corte Real Soares de Albergaria, Albano de Freitas da Silva and the company Bensaúde & Co. Lda. (through its managing director António de Medeiros e Almeida) established Sociedade Açoreana de Estudos Aéreos Lda. (English: Azorean Aviation Studies Company, Ltd.) to look into the feasibility of developing an inter-island airline that would link the Azorean archipelago and continental Portugal, and to obtain the governmental concession to do so. Augusto Rebelo Arruda eventually transferred his shares to Bensaúde & Co. Lda. on September 15, 1947, although the first Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos (English: Azorean Air Transport Company) flight occurred from Santa Maria Airport in June, 1947. Captain Marciano Veiga piloted the first flight at the controls of a twin-engine Beechcraft (named Açor) with seven passengers.