PONTA DELGADA — Azores Airlines recently celebrated a major milestone: its 1,000,000th passenger in less than a year.

It was a first for the airline, and it couldn’t have come at a better time, after more than two years of pandemic disruption.

Azores Airlines surprised its millionth passenger at the check-in counter for flight S4172 to Porto at Ponta Delgada airport on Nov. 29.

An oversized Boarding Pass was presented to the surprised passenger minutes after check-in. A certificate was also given as a souvenir of the symbolic moment.

Says Luís Rodrigues, Chairman of the SATA Group: “It’s a symbolic day for all those who work daily to grow Azores Airlines’ air operation. And nothing seemed to make more sense than sharing our enthusiasm and success with passengers who choose to travel with us. After all, without our passengers’ trust, we would not have achieved this milestone in a single year.”

He added that on Aug. 3, 2022, SATA Group reached the milestone of one million passengers carried in the activity calculation of the two airlines, SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines. The record was achieved earlier than expected for the sector, with SATA airlines exceeding expectations regarding traffic recovery in the post-pandemic period. In the summer of 2022, the two airlines carried more passengers than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.