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SATA Air Açores is an airline based in São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Portugal.〔"(Customer Care )." SATA. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.〕〔"(Press Kit 2010 )." SATA. Retrieved on 7 July 2010. "The SATA Group comprises air transport companies whose decision centre is located in the city of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, in the archipelago of Azores."〕 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. == History == On 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. The Portuguese government granted temporary concession to the airline, which operated mail, cargo and air passenger services between São Miguel (Santana Field, until 1969), Terceira (at Achada, Lajes) and Santa Maria airports. By May 23, 1948 the airline had received two de Havilland DH.104 Dove aircraft to supplement its operations. On August 5, 1948, one of these Beechcraft failed to take to the air and crashes on take-off: all the passengers and crew were killed, prompting the suspension of flight operations. Two new DH.104 Doves would be delivered on May 23, 1949, with the capacity for nine passengers, and a Douglas DC-3 Dakota (CS-TAD) with capacity for 26 passengers would enter into by July 1, 1964. In 1969, Nordela Airport (which would eventually be rechristened João Paulo II International) in Ponta Delgada (Relva) was inaugurated to civil traffic and would become the SATA base of operations. By 1971, TAP Air Portugal would begin Lisbon-Ponta Delgada service, and the airport in Horta, Faial would be inaugurated on August 24, 1971. The airline would eventually replace its aging fleet with Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprops (1972) with a larger capacity and range, that would fly between the newer airports constructed in all nine islands of the archipelago (between 1981 and 1983). In 1976, the Portuguese Air Force offered two Douglas DC-6 airplanes with a continental range. They were to be used effectively during a TAP strike that allowed SATA to extend their services to Lisbon. By April 14, 1977 it would have transported 1 million passengers throughout the regional market. It was originally formed as a private company (50% interest held by Bensaúde & Co.Lda.), but on 17 October 1980 it was reborn as a state-owned enterprise (SOE) operated by the Regional Government and TAP Air Portugal. It became a signatory of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) charters in 1980 when it became a SOE, which it remains as of March 2014. The name of the airline changed in 1980 to SATA Air Açores. Between 1989 and 1990, the inter-island HS 748 aircraft were gradually replaced by BAe ATP, after the first aircraft (named ''Santa Maria'') entered service in 1989. Eventually other planes would be added, reflecting the regional politics, each aircraft would be named after an island (''Flores'', in 1990, and ''Graciosa'', in 1991), including a small Dornier 228-212 that was added to link the small island of Corvo, which substituted a CASA C-212 Aviocar Series 100 operated by the Portuguese Air Force. A revitalization program was initiated in the late part of the 2000s to rationalize and upgrade existing aircraft, resulting in a competition between ATR and Bombardier to supply the necessary equipment that met the needs of the archipelago. The decision〔AviationNews.EU, 2010〕 to purchase Bombardier NextGen aircraft was not without controversy.〔Lusa/AOonline, 10 June 2008〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SATA Air Açores」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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