Madalena, Azores, Portugal, March 4, 2026 (Lusa) - The regional government of the Portuguese Azores archipelago supports the recommendation of the jury for the privatisation tender for Azores Airlines, which concluded that the conditions for awarding the contract to the Atlantic Connect Group consortium were not met, the government said on Wednesday.
The Cabinet took note of the final report prepared by the jury for the public tender, "namely the fact that the conditions for selecting the final bid submitted by the MS Aviation/New Tour consortium were not met" and decided "not to oppose the report's recommendation for the purposes of the decision by the board of directors of SATA Holding, SA," said the regional secretary for Finance, Planning and Public Administration of the Azores, Duarte Freitas.
The minister, who was speaking at the reading of the conclusions of the Cabinet, which met in the morning in the village of Madalena on the last day of a three-day statutory visit to the island of Pico, added that the government respects "the total independence that has always been assumed by the jury and the board of directors" of the Azorean airline.
According to Duarte Freitas, after SATA formalises the decision with the only competing consortium, the tender process will be closed and the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM government "will shortly take the necessary measures" to sell Azores Airlines and SATA's handling operations by the end of the year.
"Once this process is finalised, because it is not yet formally finalised [...] the Government will take the necessary measures, by resolution, to ensure that the objective set out in the restructuring plan is achieved, namely the sale of Azores Airlines and Sata Handling by the end of 2026," he explained.
The Regional Secretary for Finance added that "the approach will be through private negotiation", which is "the approach that will be followed" after the formal closure of the process that has taken place so far.
Duarte Freitas also agreed with the statement made by SATA's president, Tiago Santos, who recently said that there is no time to lose in implementing the so-called plan B, due to commitments with the European Commission.
On 24 November 2025, the Atlantic Connect Group (ACG) consortium submitted a bid of €17 million for 85% of the share capital of Azores Airlines.
On 28 January, the Azores Airlines privatisation jury announced that it would propose rejecting the consortium's bid on the grounds that it did not "safeguard the interests" of SATA and the region.
After the consortium contested this decision, the jury drew up its final report and forwarded it to SATA's board of directors.
On Friday, SATA's management, in a note sent to Lusa, announced that it would propose to the regional government that the privatisation process of Azores Airlines "be closed without award" to the only consortium admitted, for reasons of "public interest".
The ACG consortium insisted today that its final bid was three times the initial amount and accused the tender jury of "changing the criteria" for evaluation.
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the group says it remains "unaware of the official reasons for the rejection of its bid" and reveals that it learned from the media that the jury proposed rejection "on the grounds that payment of the price would not be made in full at the time of the transfer of shares".
The consortium states that the initial proposal provided for "full payment in cash", but this condition "merited a rating of only 25 points out of a possible 100" in the evaluation by the jury, led by economist Augusto Mateus.
ACG insists that initially "immediate payment was not considered relevant in the evaluation" and accuses the jury of "changing criteria to justify the exclusion" of the proposal.
"What is not understood now is the following: when payment was in full, the criterion was devalued; when payment was spread out over time, the criterion was strong enough to dictate the exclusion of the proposal," it criticises.
Today, businessman Carlos Tavares, who is part of ACG, confirmed in an interview with the newspaper Eco that the consortium will take the privatisation process of Azores Airlines to "Portuguese and foreign courts".
On Tuesday, the president of SATA told the Negócios newspaper that, following the rejection of the consortium's bid, the privatisation of Azores Airlines will go through a direct sale format.
In June 2022, the European Commission approved Portuguese state aid to support the restructuring of the airline in the amount of €453.25 million in loans and state guarantees, providing for measures such as a reorganisation of the structure and the divestment of a controlling stake (51%).
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