The airline is offering promotional travel between mainland Portugal and all nine Azorean islands for journeys from November 3, 2026, through March 11, 2027, with holiday periods excluded. The campaign arrives as the cost of air access to the archipelago faces growing public and political scrutiny.
For islanders, distance is rarely measured only in kilometers. It is measured in the price of the ticket that makes a family visit possible, the cost of reaching Lisbon for an appointment, or the amount a visitor must pay before spending a single night in an Azorean hotel. Against that perennial reality, Azores Airlines has launched a promotional campaign offering fares from €119 between mainland Portugal and any of the nine islands of the Azores, in either direction.
According to SATA Group, reservations must be made by September 30. The promotional fares apply to travel between November 3, 2026, and March 11, 2027, excluding two high-demand periods: December 16 through January 6 and February 5 through 14. The campaign therefore concentrates largely on the quieter autumn and winter months, when stimulating travel can also contribute to reducing the seasonality that continues to challenge Azorean tourism.
Azores Airlines emphasizes that it provides direct connections between the archipelago and Lisbon, Porto and Faro. Within the Azores, its direct mainland network serves São Miguel, Terceira, Pico and Faial, while coordination with inter-island flights allows the promotional journey to begin or end on any of the nine islands. That detail is particularly significant for residents of the smaller islands, for whom reaching mainland Portugal frequently involves more than one flight.
The promotion also arrives at a sensitive moment in the debate over Azorean air accessibility. The Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced that it had asked Portugal’s Competition Authority to examine current fare conditions involving Azores Airlines and TAP. CHEGA/Azores has also submitted a complaint to the Authority, citing what it describes as an “exponential increase” in prices. Party leader José Pacheco has called for the regulator to determine whether the market is functioning competitively and, if evidence of abuse or coordination exists, to investigate it. These are requests for regulatory scrutiny and should not be understood as findings that either airline has violated competition rules.
The €119 campaign does not by itself resolve that broader argument. Promotional fares are limited by booking dates, travel periods and availability, while the continuing debate concerns the regular price and accessibility of air travel throughout the year. Nevertheless, the offer demonstrates how substantially lower fares can become an instrument for encouraging travel during periods of weaker demand.
For tourism, that matters. Winter in the Azores offers a different archipelago from the one most visitors encounter in July or August: greener, quieter, more intimate, with weather that can be unpredictable but landscapes that lose none of their Atlantic character. More accessible fares during those months can help restaurants, hotels, rental-car companies, cultural attractions and other businesses extend economic activity beyond the summer peak.
For residents, however, the meaning is even simpler. An affordable ticket is not primarily a tourism strategy. It is the possibility of crossing the distance that island geography places between people.
The Atlantic itself does not become narrower in winter. Sometimes, however, the price of crossing it does.
Based on a story from Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director. The photos are from DI.