The Azores recorded around 247,000 passengers arriving at airports during September, 0.4% less than in the same period last year. “In September 2025, 247,462 passengers landed at airports in the Azores, a decrease of 0.4% compared to the same month last year,” according to the report on air passenger traffic from the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).

Since 2022, the region has broken records every year in the number of passengers arriving by air. The last year-on-year decline was recorded in February, when the number of passengers fell by 0.7%. We have to go back to January 2024 to find the previous year-on-year decrease in the number of arrivals (0.1%). Between January and September 2025, around 1.9 million passengers landed at the region’s airports, 60,000 (3.2%) more than in the same period in 2024. Of the more than 247,000 passengers who landed in September, the majority (46.4%) were from inter-island flights (114,874). Only passengers traveling within the Azores recorded an increase (4%) compared to September 2024.

The number of travelers from mainland Portugal and Madeira fell by 0.3%, totaling 92,839 arrivals (37.5% of the total). International flights saw a drop of 11.5%, to 39,749 arrivals (16.1% of the total). The number of passengers boarding at airports in the Azores reached 262,872 in September, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3%. In this case, too, there were more inter-island flights (114,321), the only ones to record a year-on-year increase (3.6%). Territorial flights (mainland and Madeira) carried 104,451 passengers (down 1.7%) and international flights carried 44,100 passengers (down 11.1%).

Of the nine islands in the Azores, only three saw a reduction in arrivals in September. The largest decrease occurred in Santa Maria (-2.7%), followed by Graciosa (-1.7%) and São Miguel (-1.6%). Flores (6.8%), Pico (3.4%), Faial (2.1%), São Jorge (1.3%), Corvo (0.9%), and Terceira (0.5%) saw more passengers disembark than in the same period last year.

The island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, accounted for 58.7% of total arrivals at Azores airports in September, with 145,193 passengers, followed by the islands of Terceira, with 48,922 (19.8%), Faial, with 15,899 (6.4%), and Pico, with 13,559 (5.5%).

In Diário Insular-José Lourenço-director

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