Are you our frequent flyer, spotter, an aviation fan who has always kept up with us or someone who likes to stay up to date and encourage your general culture? We invite you to read our blog post “7 things you might not know about SATA Group” to check if you missed any detail of our history and activity.
1 – SATA was created in 1941, following the dream of four visionaries – Vasco and José Bensaúde, Augusto Arruda, Augusto Soares de Albergaria and Albano de Freitas da Silva Oliveira – who did not give up until they contributed greatly to end the isolation of the Azores archipelago.
2 – SATA’s first commercial flight took place on June 15, 1947, between the islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria, in a Beechcraft UC-45B Expeditor aircraft, performed by Captain Marciano Bonucci Veiga, aviator captain, first pilot and technical director of the Company.
3 – SATA flights started having flight attendants in 1968. The Azorean spirit of the SATA service was then taken to the skies with the availability and friendliness of the first flight attendants, who at that time were not allowed to marry.
4 – During the 1980s, SATA offered sweets, the so-called “snowflakes”, on all its flights, to sweeten the palate of its passengers and make their trip more pleasant, helping them to reduce possible ear discomfort caused by pressure changes.
5 – SATA has a program for all people who are afraid of flying. If you suffer from aerophobia (flight phobia) or feel uncomfortable whenever a plane takes off, then you will certainly be a good candidate for the SATA Happy Flyer!
If you are interested in finding out more about this program aimed at bringing more comfort and happiness to our passengers, please contact our Call Center at (+351) 296 209 720 to leave your personal details, and we will contact you as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can contact us via email at happyflyer@sata.pt and describe your situation.
6 – Clean air inside the cabins of our planes has always been an essential requirement. The air you breathe inside one of our aircraft meets a series of very strict standards, being renewed every 3 minutes (more than 20 times per hour) and filtered by a high-efficiency vertical recycling system. The air flows vertically, being pushed over the passengers’ heads and expelled under the feet, which forms a protective barrier between passengers seated in front of each other. This system uses HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters, identical to those used in hospital operating rooms, which remove more than 99.9% of particles, viruses and bacteria, including the coronavirus.
7 – The SATA brand was distinguished with the Platinum A’ Design award, which distinguishes projects that have reached the level of excellence in design. SATA’s image, based on the graphic element of BIA, a bird-site that represents the union of the 9 islands of the Azores, was elected with this international award in which 78 countries, 74 categories and an international jury of 50 design experts were involved.
