MONTREAL — Transat’s year-over-year revenue is up and the company said it is seeing “encouraging signs” for the months ahead, despite the emergence of the omicron variant.

Transat posted its Q4 2021 results earlier today.

The company lost $121 million in Q4, however that’s an improvement compared to the $238 million loss in last year’s Q4.

Revenue totalled $62.8 million, up from $28.4 million in Q4 2020.

Says Transat President and CEO, Annick Guérard: “Since we resumed operations on July 30, business has been growing steadily. We met and exceeded our targets for resumption of operations in the last quarter and reduced our use of cash. The winter season that is now beginning will see the continuation of our return to more significant volumes. While we remain cautious given the evolving variants, we remain optimistic that we’re on track to returning to normal.”

In the meantime the company is continuing its transformation, says Guérard. Transat’s extensive streamlining of its fleet has been in the works for the past several years. And Transat’s just-signed codeshare agreement with WestJet, announced this quarter, “is the first step forward in our alliance strategy, with further advances to follow in the coming months.”

Guérard also highlighted Transat’s plans for winter 2021-2022: “For the winter, we plan to operate from eight Canadian airports to eight destinations in Europe, 22 in the South and five in the United States, including Miami and Fort Myers, where we’ll be flying for the first time. To do that, we will be deploying capacity that will grow from 50% to 75% of pre-pandemic capacity over the winter. We will then build volume further for the summer season, which will include two new routes to Europe and two new destinations in the United States.”

Here’s a look at more key points from Transat’s Q4 2021 results …

• As at October 31, 2021, Transat’s cash and cash equivalents amounted to $433.2 million, compared with $426.4 million on the same date in 2020
• Deposits from customers for future travel amounted to $292.2 million, compared with $608.9 million as at October 31, 2020, a decrease of $316.7 million. The change was due to refunds of travel credits made during the summer of 2021.
• Transat says it received refund requests from COVID-impacted passengers for about $460 million and made refunds for approximately 99% of amounts claimed as of late November 2021.
• Average capacity for winter 2022 is 60% of 2019 capacity, increasing from 50% to 75% over the course of the season. On the sun destinations program, Transat’s capacity in 2022 represents 55% of 2019 capacity. On the transatlantic program Transat’s capacity represents 65% of 2019 capacity. In addition Transat is increasing its presence in the cross-border market with capacity growth of 45% compared to 2019 winter season capacity.