Azores Airlines has revealed that it will use a wet-leased Plus Ultra A330-200 on four US and Canada routes during the summer. They'll replace the carrier's own 186/190-seat A321LRs/non-LR neos, providing much more capacity for the all-important peak period.
Previously known as SATA Internacional, the airline is used to widebodies: it retired the last of its A310-300s in 2018, the same year its sole A330-200 left. And it has leased the A340-300 from Hi Fly and Plus Ultra, the A330 from Plus Ultra, and more recently, the 767-300ER from EuroAtlantic.
What's happening?
In the latest schedule filing, Azores Airlines has disclosed that it'll deploy a 299-seat A330-200 from Plus Ultra from Terceira to Boston, Montreal, Oakland, and Toronto this summer. Obviously, Oakland would not be served by Azores Airlines' A321s unless it had a stop en route. For this reason, Oakland wasn't scheduled until the A330 was confirmed. Details are the four routes are as follows:
Terceira to Boston: A330 weekly on Fridays, from June 2nd until September 29th
Terceira to Montreal: A330 weekly on Saturdays, from June 17th until September 23rd
Terceira to Oakland: A330 weekly on Tuesdays (outbound), from June 13th until September 19th
Terceira to Toronto: A330 twice-weekly on Thursdays and Sundays, beginning June 1st until September 28th
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How the A330 is scheduled
In the randomly chosen week starting July 10th, Azores Airlines' leased A330-200 schedule is as follows, with all times local. Notice that the aircraft remains in Oakland for nearly 24 hours, with the same crew returning the next day. Meanwhile, Boston, Montreal, and one of Toronto's two weekly flights are served during the day. After all, Terceira to Boston is just 2,299 miles (3,699km), less distance than London Gatwick-Sharm El Sheikh or Boston-Phoenix.
Tuesday: S4237 Terceira to Oakland, 12:00-16:15
Wednesday: S4236, Oakland to Terceira, 13:45-06:45+1
Thursday: S4335, Terceira to Toronto, 17:05-19:45
Thursday: S4334, Toronto to Terceira, 22:15-08:10+1
Friday: S4233, Terceira to Boston, 10:15-12:00
Friday: S4234, Boston to Terceira, 14:15-23:20
Saturday: S4339, Terceira-Montreal, 07:50-09:40
Saturday: S4338, Montreal to Terceira, 11:40-20:35
Sunday: S4335, Terceira to Toronto, 08:30-11:10
Sunday: S4334, Toronto to Terceira, 13:35-23:20
(All of Plus Ultra's A330-200s were from Air Europa, including this.)
In addition to the four routes mentioned above, Azores Airlines will also operate the following non-stops between June-September. All routes are mainly because of diaspora. Over 500,000 Portuguese nationals and those of Portuguese heritage (including from the Azores/Madeira) live in Canada, especially in the Toronto area. In contrast, the Greater Boston area has the highest number of Portuguese-Americans in the US.
Most notably, perhaps, Azores Airlines offers the same plane and same flight number service between Boston and Praia, Cape Verde, and back, capitalizing on the lack of Cabo Verde Airlines. It runs up to four weekly, with a brief stop in Ponta Delgada.
What do you make of it all? Let us know by commenting.
