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Transat, one of the largest integrated tourism companies in the world and Canada’s holiday travel leader, made its first commercial flights on July 23 after 112 days of air downtime due to COVID-19. Three international flights — Montreal-Toulouse, Montreal-Paris and Toronto-London — and three domestic flights — Montreal-Toronto, Toronto-Montreal and Toronto-Vancouver — were flown. Transat’s entire reduced summer schedule of 24 routes to some 20 destinations will be up and running by Aug. 2.
“July 23 is, and will remain, a very special day in the history of Transat. We are gradually resuming our flight operations after a 112-day shutdown,” said Annick Guérard, chief operating officer, Transat, on July 23. “There will be excitement in the air during our carrier’s first takeoffs this evening. The entire Transat team, starting with our on-duty flight crews, is very pleased to return to action and to offer our passengers a restyled experience adapted to the situation. The skies are slowly clearing and that is encouraging, but it in no way means that the crisis caused by COVID-19 is over.”
To put things in perspective, Sept. 11, 2001 was the most significant and transformative event in the travel and tourism industry in the last two decades. But as astonishing as it may seem today, by Sept. 13, just two days later, Transat announced the gradual resumption of its flights.
Traveller Care for a totally safe trip
One of the key elements of the recovery is of course customers’ confidence in travelling safely. In this regard, Transat’s Traveller Care program offers a complete package of health and safety measures for people on the move. Based on the recommendations of regulatory authorities, the travel experience has been completely revamped: from the travel agency, to the airport, on board the aircraft, and all the way to the destination. The program is accompanied by a comprehensive practical guide that includes, among other information, the requirements of destination countries and airports. These are two online reference tools available to travel consultants and their customers.
A fleet in transformation
In July, Transat’s carrier took delivery of three new Airbus A321neoLR aircraft, which are the core of its fleet transformation. This new-generation aircraft is ideal to support the resumption of flight operations, because of, among other things, its medium capacity, extended range and fuel efficiency. The last two A321neoLRs to join the fleet made their first-ever delivery flights last weekend powered by sustainable fuel (SAF) from the Airbus assembly plant in Hamburg, Germany.
