The airline Ryanair recently announced its departure from the Azores airport. As a result, those responsible for various tourism sectors in the region expressed initial concerns about the impact.

The low-cost airline represented a significant portion of arrivals in the archipelago, so in the first full month after its departure, there was a decrease in air mobility in the Azores, with passenger arrivals in São Miguel falling by 15.5% year-on-year. The number of passengers dropped from 125,835 to 106,359, a decrease of almost 19,500. In total, regional and territorial flights accounted for 78,571 disembarked passengers (-18.0%), while inter-island flights accounted for 76,508 passengers (-2.6%). International flights totalled 23,489 passengers, reflecting a decrease of 19.8%.

In addition to the drop in arrivals, the number of embarkations also declined, with 174,041 passengers registered—a year-on-year reduction of 12%.

Regarding the distribution of passenger types, territorial flights accounted for 44% of disembarkations. This was followed by inter-island flights at 42.8% and international flights at 13.2%.

Despite the overall decline, some islands showed positive growth, namely Santa Maria (+3.4%) and Faial (+2.8%).

Conversely, declines were observed in Corvo (-15.7%), São Miguel (-15.5%), Terceira (-13.9%), São Jorge (-5.4%), Graciosa (-4.5%), and Pico (-1.3%), while Flores remained practically unchanged.

The island of São Miguel continues to account for more than half of the regional air traffic, with 106,359 passengers disembarking, representing 59.6% of the archipelago's total.

Terceira follows with 34,711 arrivals, Faial with 11,688, and Pico with 9,473.