Azorean government receives opinion on sale of Azores Airlines by the end of the month – News

“I am convinced that by the end of this month there will be knowledge of the opinion and understanding of the holding’s board of directors [da SATA] to the Government, as well as from then on we will start working on a new board of directors”, said José Manuel Bolieiro to journalists in Ponta Delgada, after having participated in the General Assembly of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CRPM).

The leader of the Azorean executive (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) was referring to the opinion on the jury’s report on the sale of Azores Airlines, the SATA group company responsible for the Azores’ connections abroad.

On April 9, the Regional Government announced that the president of the SATA group, Teresa Gonçalves, resigned from her position for “personal reasons”.

That day, to journalists, the president of the Government of the Azores stated that Teresa Gonçalves resigned for “personal and contextual reasons” and guaranteed that there would be no procedures suspended due to changes in administration.

Teresa Gonçalves’ resignation took place four days after the final decision of the jury for the public tender for the privatization of Azores Airlines was announced.

Today, José Manuel Bolieiro highlighted that the president of SATA resigned with the “commitment” to present the group’s accounts and “define the board of directors’ understanding” on the privatization of Azores Airlines.

“The holding’s board of directors will evaluate the jury’s report, which I do not know, nor do I have to know, nor does the government. Afterwards, the board of directors will inform the shareholder, the government, regarding its position”, he reinforced .

When questioned, the leader of the regional executive assured that he has not yet made any invitation to the new SATA administration.

The competition jury, led by economist Augusto Mateus, maintained the decision to accept only one competitor in the final report, but admitted reservations regarding the ability of the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium to ensure the company’s viability.

Teresa Gonçalves took office as president of SATA (a group that includes SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines) in April 2023, after the departure of Luís Rodrigues to lead TAP.