“I would like to strongly repudiate the attitude of the Regional Government and the SATA administration of ending the Terceira-Porto connection. Adding to this, there is also the Ryanair Terceira-Porto connection to end soon and as of January the Ryanair Terceira-Lisbon connection”, he said.

Artur Lima, also leader of the parliamentary bench of the CDS-PP in the Legislative Assembly of the Azores and deputy elected by the constituency of the island of Terceira, pointed out that the party presented a proposal in the Azorean parliament for Azores Airlines, of the SATA group, to make direct calls between Terceira Island and the city of Porto, but “PS and the new SATA board of directors ended this direct connection to Porto, without giving any plausible explanation”.

"This is an attack on the mobility of Terceira people, an attack on the economy of Terceira island, an attack on tourism on Terceira island, which, as a deputy elected by this island, I strongly dislike," he stressed.

The centrist deputy also said he had information that the low-cost airline Ryanair, which also runs a weekly connection between Terceira Island and Porto, will stop doing so “in September” and that “it will abandon the Terceira-Lisbon route, January 2020”.

“I will call the parliaments of the Azores to the secretaries of the respective tutors of Transport and Tourism to explain the inadmissible attitude of the Regional Government of the Azores. Enough of national centralism and above all of regional centralism”, he stressed.

The CDS-PP / Açores also revealed, in a press release, that it will ask its parliamentary group in the Assembly of the Republic to hear the Secretary of State for Tourism, with a view to explaining the possible abandonment of Ryanair's routes to the island.

Asked at the end of July by the Lusa agency about possible cuts in calls to and from Terceira, Ryanair's official source replied: "As a result of the current pandemic caused by covid-19 and the numerous travel restrictions imposed by governments, we are currently reviewing our 2020 winter schedules".