low-cost airlines must return — PS – Portugal Resident

The Azores government must make the return of low-cost airlines an urgent priority as tourism continues to decline following Ryanair’s withdrawal from the archipelago, the regional Socialist Party has said.

The warning comes after the Azores recorded a 9th consecutive month of falling tourist overnight stays. In June — already part of the peak holiday season — numbers declined by 3.8% compared with the same month last year.

PS/Azores parliamentary leader Berto Messias said the figures show “a worrying reversal in the sector’s trajectory” and accused the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM regional government of allowing the islands to lose ground built up over several years.

“The region is adrift when it comes to its tourism strategy, and proof of this can be seen in the signs already evident today and the risks this poses for the coming years,” he said.

“We are going back several years in tourism because of the regional government’s incompetence.”

Ryanair, which had carried roughly 100,000 younger and short-stay visitors to the islands every year, ended its Azores operations in March blaming high airport taxes and charges, and Europe’s environmental levies.

The low-cost Irish airline gave tourism bosses a full four months heads-up in the hope that concessions could be made – but nothing changed.

Messias describes the loss of the airline as a “very serious mistake” and said continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of Azores Airlines has compounded the problem.

He has called for greater urgency and strategic direction from the regional government, including an effective scheme to attract new routes and encourage low-cost carriers to return.

“The return of low-cost airlines to the Azores, the implementation of an effective mechanism to attract new routes and broad dialogue with the sector to update the Azores Strategic and Tourism Marketing Plan must be priorities,” he said.

The PS leader also criticised what he described as an imbalance in flights connecting the islands to external markets, delays in implementing incentives for new routes, a lack of consultation with tourism businesses and the absence of a clear international promotion strategy.

“All of this means that one of the most important sectors of our economy is slowing down in the middle of the peak season,” he said. “That is entirely contrary to what should be happening and makes no sense whatsoever.”

Azores buck national tourism trend

Figures from the Regional Statistics Service (SREA) show that tourist accommodation across the Azores — including hotels, holiday rentals and rural tourism properties — registered 506,400 overnight stays in June, down 3.8% year on year.

The islands received 151,300 guests during the month, a decline of 1.8%, while the average stay fell by 2% to 3.35 nights.

Across the first half of 2026, the Azores recorded 1.8 million overnight stays, 4.6% fewer than in the same period of 2025. Guest numbers fell by 3.6% to 578,400.

The decline runs against the national trend. Overnight stays across Portugal increased by an average of 0.7% in June and by 1.3% over the first six months of the year.

For the Azores, the figures suggest that the loss of Ryanair has not yet been offset by other carriers — and that fewer visitors are now reaching the islands – and spending less time there when they do.

Source material: LUSA