SATA Air Açores was founded in 1941 and began operations on 15 June 1947. The airline operates scheduled air services within the nine islands of the Azores archipelago, and also connects the Azores to the islands of Madeira and Gran Canaria on behalf of SATA International. In 2016, the airline carried 685,922 passengers and operated 14,678 flights, including flights on behalf of Azores Airlines. The company has its own in-house JAR 145 maintenance organisation and also offers handling services in all Azorean airports, assisting its own flights and those of other companies.