Aviation in the Azores

The three primary airfields of the Azores are: Due to the relative distance between the islands of the archipelago, aviation is in many instances more viable than boat transportation, with inter-island flights being a crucial part of the Azorean infrastructure.

[citation needed] Still in 1919, a hydroplane travelling from England to the United States stopped in Faial, which became a frequent occurrence over time, utilizing Horta as a stopover.

[4] Later that year, in October/November, a Junkers G 24 (D-1230)[5] and a Heinkel (D-1220)[6] hydroplane stopped off in Horta, where they encountered American aviation pioneer Ruth Elder, who was trying to emulate Charles Lindbergh's feat.

Piloting a small monoplane, that she named American Girl, and accompanied by Captain George Haldeman, she was forced to ditch her plane in the waters along the north coast the island of Terceira due to mechanical problems, and the aircraft caught fire.

The plane, piloted by Polish aviators Major Ludwik Idzikowski and Kazimierz Kubala had departed early that morning from Le Bourget field, in the suburbs of Paris, as part of their first trans-Atlantic crossing, heading for New York.

In this context, Charles Lindbergh (accompanied by his wife Anne Morrow) in service of Pan American, landed on 21 November 1933, with his Lockheed 8 Sirius monoplane.

[citation needed] In 1933, a squadron of 24 hydroplanes commanded by Italo Balbo arrived in the archipelago: nine landed in the port of Horta, while the remaining continued onto Ponta Delgada, where one was lost en route.

But even as the fear subsided, British prime minister Winston Churchill believed that new installations would be essential in the control of central and southern supply routes in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as supporting Allied forces operating in North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

It was followed by the Quebec Conference between August 11 and 30, in which U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister agreed that Great Britain would enter the Azores with Portuguese authorization, followed by the United States, two weeks later.

[13] British forces disembarked on 8 October 1943, at the Port of Pipas, in Angra do Heroísmo, and a contingent of 3000 soldiers travelled to Lajes in begin expanding the small aerodrome in the area called Terra Chã.

This was done under the guidance of Pan American airlines, as the Portuguese, not wanting to arouse the wrath of Nazi Germany, only accepted the project on the grounds that it was a civilian facility.

The construction began in 1944, in conjunction with the erection of a company hospital that served to provide medical assistance to U.S. troops hurt in the European theatre of operations.

[citation needed] But, the inauguration of the Ponta Delgada-Nordela Airport on the southern coast of São Miguel island, fronting the main population centre, on 10 August 1969, changed the face of regional/international services in the Azores.

By the start of 1970s, 2 more aerodromes were constructed on other islands in the archipelago: In 1976, following the fall of the Estado Novo regime, in an era that was tumultuous, the democratic politicians debated a proposal in Portuguese National Assembly to regionalize the provision of services to the Azores and Madeira.

These investors, which included Augusto Rebelo Arruda, founded the Sociedade Açoriana de Estudos Aéreos, Limitada (on 21 August 1941), with the objective of obtaining the authorization from the Portuguese government to establish flights between the islands and mainland Portugal.

The airplane transported two crew and seven passengers, and made connections between the islands of São Miguel (from the Santana air field until 1969, and later from Nordela after 1969) with Santa Maria and Terceira.

The purchase allowed the regionalization of air services into the public company "Serviço Açoriano de Transportes Aéreos, Empresa Pública" (while maintaining its abbreviation).

Still in 1991, the first permanent flights began to serve the island of Corvo, with a single Dornier 228-212, occasionally substituted by a CASA C-212 Aviocar from the Portuguese Air Force.

While SATA Air Açores continued to operate within the archipelago, the new entity provided connections internationally and to the European continent with a fleet of Airbus Industries aircraft (including A310 for long-haul and A320 for domestic/short-haul service).