As per the Azores government announcement , the corporate restructuring of SATA will be completed in early December , and the public tender for the privatisation of Azores Airlines will begin on January 1st , 2023.
The Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce (CCAH) today welcomed the launch , as of 2023 , of the international public tender process for the privatization of Azores Airlines , which it considers “fundamental” for the company’s sustainability.
Azores Airlines, previously known as SATA Internacional, is a Portuguese airline based in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel in the autonomous archipelago of the Azores.
The regional secretary for Finance, Planning and Public Administration, Duarte Freitas, announced on Monday that the corporate restructuring of SATA will be completed in early December and the public tender for the privatization of Azores Airlines will start on January 1, 2023 .
“I can announce that, as of January 1, 2023, we will start the public tender process to sell Azores Airlines”, said Duarte Freitas, at the Regional Assembly, in Horta, Faial island, at the opening of the Plan’s discussion and the region’s Budget for 2023.
In a statement sent today to the newsrooms, the management of the Chamber of Commerce of Angra do Heroísmo underlines that “the sale of the majority of the region’s share in the Azorean airline was defended for many years” by the business association.
“It is a fundamental step towards the sustainability of the Azorean economy and the company”, underlines the CCAH.
In the opinion of that business association, “it is essential” that privatization can be “properly prepared in a timely manner and with the utmost care so that something similar to what happened during previous privatizations does not happen, as was the case of Banco Comercial dos Açores and of Companhia de Seguros Açoreana”.
The CCAH defends that “the company’s identity must be safeguarded” and “the importance in the development of the tourism sector must be considered, given its relevance in the Azorean economy”.
The opposition in the Azores, BE and PS , questioned whether the privatization of Azores Airlines will ensure the public service routes of the archipelago with the continent, and the Regional Government has rejected associating those flights with alienation.
At issue are the flights between Faial, Pico, Santa Maria and the mainland, as well as the between Ponta Delgada and Funchal, defined as service obligations (OSP).
"OSP will be the subject of a international public tender for compliance with the links between pico, Faial, Santa Maria and Ponta Delgada and Funchal. It is a tender and any company may compete. This has nothing to to do with the privatization of Azores Airlines", said the secretary of the Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructure.
The privatization of the majority of the capital of Azores Airlines / SATA Internacional (a company of the SATA group responsible for connections between the archipelago and abroad) is foreseen in the proposed Budget of the Azores for 2023.
The proposed regional legislative decree of the Budget of the Autonomous Region of the Azores for 2023 authorizes the “disposal of the majority of the indirect social participation” of the region in SATA Internacional – Azores Airlines.
The “disinvestment of a controlling stake (51%) in Azores Airlines” is foreseen in the restructuring plan for the Azorean airline approved in June by the European Commission.
The Regional Budget for 2023 stipulates that, within the scope of the sale of SATA Internacional , “a special committee must be set up to monitor the respective process, which will be extinguished upon completion”, and a “risk prevention plan must be drawn up”. corruption”.
In June, the European Commission approved Portuguese state aid to support the restructuring of the Azorean airline, of 453.25 million euros in loans and state guarantees.
The approved amount is divided into direct loans of 144.5 million euros and debt assumption of 173.8 million euros, for a total of 318.25 million euros to be converted into equity, and state guarantees of 135 million euros granted until 2028 for financing provided by banks and other financial institutions.
SATA’s financial chaos have been visible since 2014 , when it started to register losses , aggravated by the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, which had a huge impact on the aviation sector.
Earlier in June 2020 , it was announced that the Government of the Azores (then led by the PS) would abandon the second attempt to privatize Azores Airlines, after a first tender was annulled in November 2018.
In June of this year, the president of the executive, the social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro , confirmed that the European Commission placed as a “requirement” the privatization of up to 51% of the share capital of Azores Airlines.
