In November, the Azores recorded its third consecutive year-on-year decline in passenger arrivals. Terceira Island saw the biggest drop.

“In November 2025, 128,073 passengers landed at airports in the Azores, a decrease of 2.5% compared to the same month last year,” according to the report on air passenger traffic released yesterday by the Azores Regional Statistics Service (SREA).

This is the third consecutive decline in air passenger arrivals in the region compared with the same month last year. Only flights within the archipelago recorded an increase compared to the same period the previous year (2.1%), while domestic (-4%) and international (-16.8%) flights declined. Of the nine islands in the Azores, only four showed a year-on-year increase in passengers arriving in November: Graciosa (12.3%), Pico (9.1%), Santa Maria (5.3%), and São Jorge (4.9%).

Terceira Island recorded the largest decrease (-5.7%), followed by Flores (-4.4%), São Miguel (-2.8%), Faial (-2.5%), and Corvo (-1.9%). With 72,563 passengers, the island of São Miguel accounted for more than half of the arrivals (56.7%) at Azores airports this month, followed by Terceira, with 31,391 travelers (24.5%), Faial, with 7,466 (5.8%), and Pico, with 5,202 (4.1%).

The number of passengers boarding flights at airports in the region reached 134,946 in November, 2.1% less than in the same month in 2024. In this case, too, the largest decline occurred in international flights (17.3%), which totaled 11,853 passengers.

Domestic flights carried 64,194 passengers, 2.2% less than in the same period last year, and inter-island flights carried 58,899 passengers, 1.9% more. In September, there was already a 0.4% drop, and in October, a 1.1% drop. Even so, between January and November, around 2.25 million passengers landed at airports in the region, 57,349 (2.6%) more than in the same period in 2024.

Of the approximately 128,000 passengers who landed in November, 59,398 (46.4%) were from domestic flights (mainland and Madeira) and 58,899 (46%) from inter-island flights. A total of 9,776 passengers (7.6%) landed on flights from abroad.

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.