Angra do Heroismo, Portugal, Oct. 9, 2026 (Lusa) - The number of passengers arriving at airports in the Portuguese Azores region fell for the ninth consecutive month in September, showing a 5.6% decline compared with the same month last year, according to figures released on Friday by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).
«In September 2026, 233,650 passengers disembarked at airports in the Azores, 13,812 fewer passengers than in the same month last year (-5.6%)», states the SREA's report on air passenger traffic.
Since January, the number of passengers arriving by air in the Azores has been falling month-on-month.
Between January and September, the region recorded around 1.8 million passengers, 136,898 fewer than in the same period in 2025, representing a fall of 7.1%.
Almost half (49.4%) of travellers arriving in the region in September were on inter-island flights, totalling 115,360.
A total of 81,318 passengers arrived from the mainland and Madeira (so-called ‘territorial' flights), accounting for 34.8% of the total, whilst only 36,972 passengers (15.8%) arrived on international flights.
The largest year-on-year decline was seen in domestic flights (-12.4%), followed by international flights (-7%).
Conversely, inter-island flights saw a slight increase (0.4 %) in the number of passengers disembarking.
Of the nine islands of the Azores, only four recorded a year-on-year increase in disembarkations in September: Flores (8.2 %), Graciosa (8 %), Pico (5.9 %) and Faial (1.5 %).
The island of Corvo saw the most significant decline (-13.3%), followed by São Miguel (-8.5%), São Jorge (-7.3%), Terceira (-5.7%) and Santa Maria (-1.2%).
With 132,833 passengers, the island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, accounted for more than half (56.9 %) of arrivals in the region, followed by Terceira, with 46,115 (19.7 %), Faial, with 16,140 (6.9 %), and Pico, with 14,353 (6.1%).
As for the number of passengers boarding at airports in the Azores, this reached 249,725 in September, 13,147 (5%) fewer than in the same month last year.
Here too, the decline was more pronounced on domestic flights (-11.4%), which totalled 92,542 passengers, and on international flights (-5.3%), with 41,757 passengers.
On inter-island flights, 115,426 people boarded, 1% more than in September 2025.
At the end of March, the low-cost airline Ryanair ceased flying to the Azores, and connections between the archipelago and mainland Portugal are now operated solely by TAP and Azores Airlines, which is part of the SATA group.
CYB/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
