The ever-changing Covid-19 travel limitations across several countries have continued to generate uncertainty among airlines, and Canadian carrier Air Transat was one of them given an extended flightless period.
For the first time in six months, Air Transat announced its return to the sky on Friday, with three flights scheduled for that magnificent day.
Anticipating an Exciting Summer
The three flights – Montreal to Punta Cana, Punta Cana to Montreal, and Montreal to Vancouver – served as warm-ups for the airline’s unusually diverse summer schedule.
The summer program sees Air Transat passengers fly to leisure destinations from the United States all the way to the United Kingdom, the South, and Europe, with a total of 24 itineraries and 16 destinations.
“We return to the sky with tremendous joy and excitement after these long months of suspension,” says Annick Guérard, President and CEO of Transat, in a news statement.
“We are happy to finally rejoin with our travellers and allow them to reconnect with their favorite destinations through our world-renowned travel experience,” he continues.
Furthermore, the airline is growing into the Canadian domestic market with an appealing program that includes flights between Calgary, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Vancouver.
In addition to letting Canadian passengers to go to additional foreign destinations through the cities offered, the domestic program offers unique direct flights between Quebec City and Vancouver, a first for the carrier.
Preparing for a busy summer, the airline aims to add three more Airbus A321neoLRs to its fleet, bringing the total number of the aircraft type in its fleet to ten, with an additional seven planned to arrive by 2023.
A Difficult Comeback
Air Transat had a rather positive start to 2021, as news of a proposed merger with fellow Canadian national airline Air Canada was cleared for procedures, paving the way for optimal recovery.
Despite the fact that the merger was approved by Transport Canada, the merger was called off permanently in April because the carriers did not acquire the requisite consent from the European Commission, which was concerned about competition with European carriers.
The re-tightening of travel restrictions in both Canada and the locations supplied, as some countries battled new waves of Covid-19 infections, exacerbated the situation. Passengers were also kept at away by mandated quarantines and other similar limitations, since many found the tougher laws to be too much of a burden.
Air Transat, like many other airlines throughout the world, was eventually forced to temporarily cease operations and cancel flights until demand picked up again.
The airline had intended to make an earlier return in June in order to capitalize on the prime summer season, but government restrictions had not been relaxed by then.
