26.6.2023
(13)
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 160/41
Portugal agreed exceptionally to waive the rights deriving from Article 342 TFEU in conjunction with Article 3 of Regulation No 1/1958 (8) and to have the decision adopted and notified pursuant to Article 297 TFEU in English.
2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURES
2.1.
The beneficiary: operating subsidiaries and activities
(14)
SATA is an operating airline company, a Sociedade Anónima (limited liability company) (9), and it holds shares in other companies based in the ARA.
SATA was incorporated in 1941 and is fully owned by the Regional Government.
SATA is the sole shareholder of SATA Internacional - Azores Airlines, S.A. (‘Azores Airlines’), Gestão de Aeródromos, S.A. (‘SATA Gestão de Aeródromos’ or ‘SGA’) and the tour operator Azores Vacations America, Inc. (‘Azores Vacations America’), which is inactive and is currently undergoing liquidation proceedings.
In addition, SATA used to be the sole shareholder of another tour operator, namely Azores Vacations Canada, Inc. (‘Azores Vacations Canada’), which has already been liquidated (recital 62).
(15)
Any reference to SATA or the beneficiary undertaking supported by the restructuring aid in this decision includes SATA Air Açores and all its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated in order to distinguish its operation of air carrier (performed as ‘SATA Air Açores’) from the activities of its subsidiaries.
(16)
SATA employs around 1 400 people, of which 1 150 locally in the Region, corresponding to around 10 % of all tourism employment and 1 % of the total employment in Azores and 250 in Lisbon (10).
As described in the opening decision (11) and the extension decision (12), SATA provides: (i) directly and through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Azores Airlines, air transport passenger and cargo services on routes under PSOs and on a commercial basis; and (ii) SATA provides an SGEI through SGA in relation to small airports and airfields in the Region.
Sections 2.1.1 to 2.1.3. describe the two sets of activities separately.
2.1.1.
PSOs discharged by SATA and Azores Airlines
(17)
To ensure the continuity of the provision of the scheduled air service on the routes serving the Azores some scheduled passenger air transport services in the Region have been subject to PSOs pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13).
The obligations cover, inter alia, minimum flight frequency, timetables, the category of aircraft used and maximum internal configuration capacity, fares, service continuity and punctuality and marketing of flights (14).
The PSOs help offsetting the isolation of the Azores Archipelago due to distance from mainland and weather conditions especially in winter.
(18)
SATA Air Açores only operates inter-island flights with PSOs with exclusivity and compensation, while Azores Airlines operates flights from the Azores to mainland Portugal, Madeira and to international destinations, with PSOs on routes to mainland Portugal and Madeira without exclusivity and without compensation.
In both cases, those obligations are enshrined in public service contracts (‘PSCs’) or entrustment acts that impose minimum
(8) Council Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community (OJ 17, 6.10.1958, p. 385/58).
(9) Sociedade Anónima is listed in Annex I (Types of undertaking referred to in point (a) of Article 1(1)) to Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19).
(10) Portugal’s submission of 2 December 2021, Annex 1 – SATA Restructuring and Strategic Plan 2021-25, p. 21-24.
(11) Opening decision, recital 7.
(12) Extension decision, recitals 7 to 9.
(13) Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008, on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community (OJ L 293, 31.10.2008, p. 3).
(14) By way of example, Law 105/2019, which amends Law-Decree 134/2015 (concerning the grant of a social mobility allowance to citizens who are beneficiaries, in the context of air and maritime services between the mainland and the Autonomous Region of Madeira and between the latter and the Autonomous Region of the Azores, pursuing objectives of social and territorial cohesion) states that the maximum ticket fee is EUR 30,00.