The Regional Government has announced its decision to suspend the public privatization process for Azores Airlines.
The opposition’s rejection of the Regional Budget and the future possibility of the dissolution of the Regional Parliament have left the regional political situation unstable.
The President of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, says that according to the “ethical understanding,” the appropriate decision is to suspend the “sale tenders, for privatization purposes, of part of the Regional Public Business Sector.”
To this end, the government has already informed the Board of Directors of Sata Holding S.A. to suspend the public tenders.
The process should continue once the situation has been clarified and the new Regional Government has decided.
In reaction to this suspension, the Left Bloc argues that this is good news and that SATA should be a 100% public company.
“The sale of the airline to private individuals jeopardizes the mobility of Azoreans with the rest of the world,” says a BE statement sent to DI.
For CHEGA MP José Pacheco, the political situation in the region “cannot be a justification for ending processes that were already underway.” He said, “This only proves that the government never wanted to get rid of Azores Airlines, and it is the Azoreans who will continue to pay for this company’s losses.”
The Vice-President of the PS parliamentary group, Carlos Silva, says this is a “lame excuse to interrupt a process that got off to a bad start, which has always taken place in a non-transparent way.” He demands an explanation for this decision.

in Diário Insular – José Lourenço, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno