The new Chairman of SATA’s Board of Directors, who was heard yesterday by the Economy Committee of the Azores Regional Legislative Assembly for almost three hours, said that his only objective is to “save SATA” and that he has no response to all those who criticize him because, according to what he told the deputies, he has disconnected himself from the news and has therefore not heard any criticism, whether from the Workers’ Commissions or the Azores Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He began by saying at the hearing that he wanted to “work with all those who want to work with SATA and who want to help save SATA.”
Rui Coutinho admitted that there had been too many management errors, but his intention as head of the group is to “erase” the past. He doesn’t want to talk about “inheritances” anymore, nor does he want to talk about bad management. At the hearing, he said he “wants to govern SATA, project it into the future, and give the company stability.”

Regarding the measures to be implemented, he wants to eliminate unnecessary routes, reduce ACMIs to a minimum, compete with the competition without becoming a low-cost airline, promote the onboard sales service, and aim for additional revenue from flight fares.
Regarding the planes, Rui Coutinho says he doesn’t want any more ‘sperm whales’: “I don’t want any more ‘sperm whales’. I don’t want any more planes of that size to carry out certain operations. An AIRBUS 321 Extra Long Range plane is scheduled to come, which is supposed to be able to make a trip from Terceira to the west coast of the United States of America. The plane is already delayed and isn’t due to arrive until September.”
Rui Coutinho, a former VINCI Airports employee, made an analogy: “A footballer who changes teams doesn’t stop scoring goals for the team he came from. So this player is going to score goals. Thank God, I’ve always been good at management and you’ll see what a professional manager I am”. He also says that it is a “normal benefit” for SATA to have a person who comes from the airport group, who knows well the weaknesses that are on that side, and what we can do to give the SATA group better results.
Rui Coutinho argues that SATA has to “maximize” its capacities: “Retrofit an A320 from 168 seats to 180 seats; and two A321s from 186 to 200 seats.
TAP already does this, and it already has planes with this configuration, which could represent additional revenue of 4 million euros.”

In addition, he promises an “immediate review” of the SATA Imagine program and the old Gold cards that accumulate miles but no longer meet the conditions to travel with the company. He explains, “Every time the person uses that card, the company costs 20 to 25 euros every time they use the lounge, and it doesn’t even meet the requirements to be a Gold card.
Increasing charter traffic in the winter period is another objective of Sata’s new management, which is a way of reducing and “diluting” the company’s fixed costs.
“And we want to create a task force to control delays in punctuality, which are also the result of the increasingly congested Lisbon airport and also of the works at Porto airport, which negatively affect the operations of both SATA and TAP and create huge constraints for the company. We’re trying to get our planes to work more punctually so that we have fewer complaints and less compensation,” says SATA’s new president.
There will also be an increase in fares in line with inflation: “We can’t guarantee fares for 2025. There’s already been a war, Covid, and inflation of around 40% from last year, so the fares must be updated.”

Rui Coutinho says he wants to close all the SATA stores “both in towns and cities, reinforce the stores and take the staff to the airports, reinforce teams and give the best treatment to passengers and reservations, to have a much more available process, and thus also put an end to the rents we pay, because, I think, none of the spaces are owned by SATA; they are all leased.
In addition, the new president wants to remove the non-aviation business from the company. He says: “We have to focus on the airlines, not neglecting the other businesses we still have, but which, as I said, are to be privatized. And this is even an imposition of the European Union’s restoration plan.”

in Correio dos Açores, Natalino Viveiros, director

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