"The new president will naturally be a reason for analysis, reflection and decision in the short term," said the Secretary for Finance, Planning and Public Administration of the Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), Duarte Freitas, in statements to journalists on the sidelines of meetings with public service unions in Ponta Delgada.

When questioned, the government official said he was not aware of a formal request from the Azores Airlines Workers' Committee for a meeting with the Azorean executive.

"I have the public information that the Workers' Committee will have requested a hearing, but formally I still don't know anything," he said.

On 11 April, the Workers' Committee (CT) of Azores Airlines revealed that the president of SATA resigned because the Government of the Azores "did not offer the necessary conditions" for the administration to continue to develop the "proposed project".

In the internal note, to which Lusa had access, the CT says that it will request "an urgent meeting with the president of the Regional Government", the social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro.

On Thursday, the Workers' Committee met with the administration, but did not want to make any statements at the end of the meeting, claiming that the changes in SATA's leadership were not addressed at the meeting, according to a CT source to the Lusa agency. 

The same source added that the CT intends to speak publicly about the resignation of the airline's president after the meeting with the Regional Government.

On 9 April, the Regional Government announced that the president of the SATA group, Teresa Gonçalves, had resigned from her position for "personal reasons".

To journalists, the president of the Government of the Azores stated that Teresa Gonçalves presented her resignation for "personal and contextual reasons" and guaranteed that there will be no procedures suspended due to changes in the administration. 

Teresa Gonçalves' resignation came four days after the final decision of the jury of the public tender for the privatisation of Azores Airlines (the airline responsible for connections between the Azores and abroad) was known.

The jury, led by economist Augusto Mateus, maintained the decision to accept only one competitor in the final report, but admitted reservations about the ability of the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium to ensure the viability of the company.

Teresa Gonçalves took office as president of SATA (a group that includes SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines) in April 2023, after Luís Rodrigues left to lead TAP.

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