The Azores Handling Strike Runs From 07:30 Each Morning Until 27 October: the Inter-Island Flights SATA Must Still Run, and How to Move Your Booking for Free

Ground staff at SATA Handling, the only ground handling company at the Azores' airports, begin a partial strike at 07:30 local time on Wednesday 21 October (08:30 in Lisbon). An arbitration tribunal has fixed minimum services, and SATA has published the eight days of inter-island flights it will run inside the strike windows. Every other flight in those hours may be disrupted.

The strike was called by the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Aviação e Aeroportos (Aviation and Airports Workers' Union, SITAVA) and the Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores da Aviação Civil (National Union of Civil Aviation Workers, SINTAC). It runs to 3 November and covers every SATA Handling worker at every station, in two blocks of three hours a day, Azores time:

• 21 to 27 October: 07:30 to 10:30 (08:30 to 11:30 in Lisbon);
• 28 October to 3 November: 16:00 to 19:00 (17:00 to 20:00 in Lisbon).

Outside those hours, the unions say, work carries on normally. The Azores stay one hour behind Lisbon when the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, so the Lisbon times hold for the whole strike.

The flights SATA will run in the strike hours

SATA Air Açores, the inter-island airline, lists these as its minimum service flights, all of them linking the two westernmost islands, Flores and Corvo, to Ponta Delgada via Horta:

• 21 October: SP588, Ponta Delgada to Horta at 08:50, then Horta to Corvo at 10:15;
• 22 and 23 October: SP576, Ponta Delgada to Horta at 08:50, then Horta to Corvo at 10:15;
• 25 October: SP570, Ponta Delgada to Horta at 08:35, then Horta to Flores at 10:00;
• 26 October: SP570, Ponta Delgada to Horta at 08:25, then Horta to Flores at 10:00;
• 28 October: SP589, Corvo to Horta at 14:30, then Horta to Ponta Delgada at 15:50;
• 30 October and 2 November: SP577, Corvo to Horta at 14:30, then Horta to Ponta Delgada at 15:50.

Azores Airlines, the group's long-haul carrier, has no minimum service flights. SATA says its international flights returning to the Azores may still operate if the aircraft lands before that day's strike window begins, with the handling essential to the operation provided.

What passengers can do

SATA is letting passengers move a booking, free of charge, to a flight outside the strike hours, for travel between 18 October and 10 November, subject to seats being available. It also advises travellers on both its airlines to:

• travel with carry-on baggage only where possible, within its cabin allowance;
• check in online beforehand;
• arrive at the airport early, at the recommended check-in time, and go straight to the gate after check-in.

SATA's strike notice does not mention refunds. If a flight is cancelled, the airline's general cancellation notice, which follows the EU rules on passenger rights, offers either a refund or re-routing. The full notice is on azoresairlines.pt under "Operational constraints at SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines".

The unions say SATA Handling serves every airline flying to the nine islands. "Without handling, SATA Air Açores does not fly, Azores Airlines does not fly, TAP does not fly, Binter does not fly," they said on Tuesday, putting the workforce at about 640. Passengers booked with TAP or Binter in the strike hours should check with their airline.

Unions say they will comply, then go to court

The minimum services were set by an arbitration tribunal of the Conselho Económico e Social dos Açores (Azores Economic and Social Council), in Acórdão n.º 7/2026, which had not been published on the council's website by early Wednesday. In a joint statement reported by the Lusa news agency on Tuesday, the two unions said they were "shocked" that a three-hour partial strike had been treated "as if it were a strike of 15 whole consecutive days".

They said they would challenge both the legality of the tribunal and what they called a disproportionate decision, but that the minimum services "will be fully complied with, as we always have". They also seized on the ruling's own description of handling as an "indispensable and essential activity for air operations", the argument at the heart of their dispute.

The strike is aimed at the regional government's plan to sell 100 percent of SATA Handling, one of the steps in the SATA Group's restructuring. In their 6 October notice the unions said the European Commission had confirmed in writing that the full sale was the Portuguese authorities' choice, not a requirement from Brussels, and they want ground handling treated as part of the public service of air transport in the Azores. We covered the strike notice and the unions' case on 9 October, and the sale terms and their job guarantees in July.