Aviation in the Azores an era that was tumultuous, the democratic politicians debated a proposal in Portuguese National Assembly to regionalize the provision of services to the Azores and Madeira. Following these events, the increasingly autonomous governments of the Azores, between 1981 and 1983, built several airports to provide expanded service to the remaining islands. In addition to improvements at Horta Airport, the government of the Azores finalized construction of: Since the 1940s, the Portuguese flag carrier Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (today's TAP Portugal) operated regular flights to the Azores through the gateways in Ponta Delgada, Lajes and Vila do Porto. Meanwhile, a group of
Horta, Azores stopped in Horta on the first leg of his solo circumnavigation, which he chronicled in his 1899 book "Sailing Alone Around the World." In his semi-autobiographical story "The Innocents Abroad", Mark Twain was complimentary about the physical appearance of Horta: However, Twain painted a less complimentary picture of the inhabitants of Horta and Faial at the time: In works by Vitorino Nemésio ("O Corsário das Ilhas"), Raul Brandão ("As ilhas Desconhecidas"), the island is characterized as a focus of the story, while Jules Verne mentioned Horta in descriptions to his fiction tales. Horta, Azores Horta () is a single municipality