Last week, the easyjet director in Portugal, José Lopes, said his company was going to stop flying between Lisbon and Ponta Delgada at the end of October, two years after starting flying to the archipelago as the carrier “has not managed to enter the market with the minimum quality".

The Azores regional transport secretary said at the time that it was “not desirable” that easyjet stop flying to the islands, but that it was an open market.

Ryanair started flying to the Azores in April 2015 and has a base in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, its fourth base in Portugal.