Ponta Delgada, Azores islands, Portugal, June 6, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Azores-based airlines Sata Air Açores and Azores Airlines have been experiencing operational constraints since Thursday due to restrictions related to balloon launches, bird strikes and fog in Porto, the SATA group said on Friday.
“Between yesterday evening (June 5) and this morning (June 6), flight operations – both inter-island and domestic and international – were affected by various constraints beyond their control, but which are having an impact on the regularity and punctuality of flight operations,” the company said in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.
According to the statement, this morning there was a “temporary restriction on approaches to Ponta Delgada airport [São Miguel island] due to air traffic restrictions caused by the unauthorised release of balloons, which forced some SATA Air Açores flights to divert and delay their departure”.
SATA also reported a bird strike “at the end of yesterday [Thursday] on arrival in Ponta Delgada, which forced the immobilisation of an Azores Airlines aircraft for mandatory inspection, requiring the rescheduling of the operation”.
The SATA group also points to the existence of “restrictions on flights to Porto, mainland Portugal, caused by dense fog and limitations in the airport’s approach systems, resulting in knock-on delays in Azores Airlines’ operations”.
“These events, which are beyond the control of the airlines, cause knock-on delays that are difficult to make up in a short space of time,” it stresses.
According to the company, “despite ongoing efforts to minimise the impact of these disruptions on passenger itineraries, traffic is gradually returning to normal” and passengers affected by cancellations or significant delays “will continue to be informed of any relevant changes”.
SATA “regrets the inconvenience caused” and assures that “it is making every effort to normalise operations as soon as possible”.
The most recent case, related to the release of balloons, occurred this Friday morning in Ponta Delgada.
According to state broadcaster RTP/Azores, the airspace over São Miguel was temporarily closed between 11:21 a.m. local time (12:21 p.m. in Lisbon) and 12:30 p.m. due to balloons being released, allegedly by nursery school children.
RTP also reported that the temporary closure of the airspace was due to safety reasons and caused several flights to divert to Santa Maria, causing further delays to other connections.
The director of Coriscolândia - Centro de Animação Lúdico-Pedagógico, one of the branches of Kairós (Cooperativa de Incubação de Iniciativas de Economia Solidária), has already expressed his “surprise” that the release of balloons, an end-of-school-year activity, had an impact on air traffic in São Miguel, and said he had informed the regional air traffic control, NAV.
Speaking to Lusa, João Pimentel said that the balloon launch “is an event that has been going on for almost 20 years”, which takes place annually to mark the end of the school year and “has always gone smoothly”.
“Every year we call the airport control tower to inform them and ask for authorisation. And yesterday [Thursday] we called to inform them that we would be launching the balloons today. They told us it could be today between 11:00 a.m.–11:25 a.m. local time, and that’s what we did,” he reported.
According to João Pimentel, before the balloons were launched, Coriscolândia “made further contact today” with NAV Portugal - Navegação Aérea, which “did not express any objection”.
“We are surprised by what is happening,” he said, adding that he only became aware of the situation through posts on social media.
João Pimentel also said that the “around 300 biodegradable balloons” were released “more than 10 kilometres from the airport”.
Lusa tried to obtain information from NAV Portugal, but has not received a response so far.
ASR/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
