SATA To End Flights Linking Madeira With Canada & The U.S.
by Bruce Parkinson
Just one year after launching routes to Toronto and Boston, and two years after inaugurating New York-Funchal service, SATA has announced that these air connections operated by SATA Azores Airlines to Madeira will be discontinued.
The news was delivered by Rui Coutinho, president of Grupo SATA, who was appointed last summer with a mandate to financially restructure the regional carrier.
As reported by Madeira Island News, “SATA is ending routes with a deficit of 12 to 15 million euros,” as part of a new Financial Sustainability Plan. “When we arrived at the company in July 2024, we were faced with an operating plan for the summer that had been outlined and which turned out to be in deficit,” Coutinho said at a press conference.
SATA Azores Airlines also offers weekly flights from Toronto to Ponta Delgada in the Azores archipelago, which are expected to continue. That route was used in November 2024 to bring 150 Canadian travel advisors to the Azores for the ACTA International Destination Conference.
The resulting news coverage and social media exposure is expected to help drive traffic on the YYZ-PDL route. TAP Air Portugal also flies the route.
Canadian travellers can still access Madeira through connections in the Azores or the Portuguese mainland.
