1941 - On August 21, five pioneers got together in Ponta Delgada and formed the Azorean Society of Air Studies, SAEA. Vasco Bensaúde, José Bensaúde, Augusto Albergaria, Albano da Silva Oliveira and Augusto Arruda, aimed to break the isolation and shorten the distance between the islands of that archipelago and these to the rest of the world. Due to existing Pan American flights, which connected New York-Marseille and New York-London with stopovers in Horta and Lisbon, the need for direct connections between the Azores archipelago and the mainland became secondary, prioritizing the flights between islands. On February 12, 1947, Bensaúde e Companhia Lda., represented by António de Medeiros Almeida, acquired the shares of José Bensaúde and Augusto Albergaria and changed its name to Sociedade Açoriana de Transportes Aéreos, Lda., SATA, initiating the air connections between the islands of São Miguel, Santa Maria and Terceira. The first flight takes place on June 15 of the same year, under the command of Commander Marciano Bonucci Veiga, the company's first pilot and technical director, aboard a Beechcraft UC-45B Expeditor, named "Açor", making the São Paulo airlift. Miguel-Santa Maria.
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