Air mobility support payments in the Azores secured through CTT until 2027

The payment of the social mobility subsidy for residents of the Azores will continue to be handled by CTT until June 2027, preserving a service used by passengers who rely on air links between the archipelago and destinations outside the islands.

The arrangement keeps the CTT network as a payment point for the support scheme, which allows eligible residents to recover part of the cost of covered journeys. For many families, students and workers, reimbursement is an important part of making regular travel to mainland Portugal and Madeira more manageable.

Continuity until June 2027 matters because it reduces the risk of disruption in a mechanism with a direct effect on travel budgets. In the Azores, where distance and island geography make air transport essential, predictable payment procedures help residents plan trips for health, study, work and family reasons.

The social mobility subsidy is one of the main public tools used to offset the higher travel costs faced by residents of Portugal's autonomous regions. By keeping payments through CTT, the system maintains a familiar in-person route across the islands, especially useful for people who prefer to manage reimbursement at a counter.

The extension does not settle the wider debate over fares, deadlines or simplification of the model, but it provides operational stability in the near term. For the Azores, that stability matters because air mobility remains a practical condition for connection with the rest of the country.