MONTREAL — In response to increasing demand from travellers, Air Transat is ramping up its flight schedule for the coming months. 

Overall capacity on certain routes will be increased, improving the company’s international flights from Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto as well as its domestic program. 

“Last July, we resumed operations in a gradual manner, stating that we would study the evolution of demand very closely,” said Joseph Adamo, Transat’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. “As anticipated, the latent demand for travel is there, which now allows us to expand our offering and help our customers rediscover the joy of travel.”

The first flight on these routes has been advanced:

• Quebec City – Cancun starting October 24, 2021
• Quebec City – Puerto Plata starting November 5, 2021
• Montreal – Puerto Plata starting October 14, 2021

New frequencies have been added on these routes:

SOUTH

• Montreal – Punta Cana: one additional frequency per week from September 4 through October 30, 2021.
• Montreal – Cancun: one additional frequency per week from August 29 to December 6, 2021.
• Montreal – Pointe-à-Pitre: one additional frequency per week from December 15, 2021, to February 9, 2022.
• Montreal – Fort-de-France: one additional frequency per week from December 15, 2021, to February 9, 2022.
• Montreal – Port-au-Prince: one additional frequency per week from October 10 to October 31, 2021.
• Quebec – Punta Cana: one additional frequency per week from November 4 to December 9, 2021.

EUROPE

• Montreal – Paris: now one flight per day is offered.
• Toronto – Porto: one additional frequency per week from November 4, 2021, to February 10, 2022.

DOMESTIC 

• Montreal – Vancouver: additional frequencies have been added from October 3, 2021, through February 11, 2022.
• Toronto – Vancouver: additional frequencies have been added from October 6, 2021, to December 10, 2021.

Transat’s enhanced flight schedule comes on the heels of its third-quarter results, in which it was revealed that the company lost $138.1 million compared with a loss of $45.1 million in the same quarter last year.

Transat says the loss amounted to $3.66 per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31 compared with a loss of $1.20 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $12.5 million, up from $9.5 million a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $3.06 per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted loss of $3.70 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

Transat began a gradual resumption of flying on July 30 after suspending operations on Jan. 29 when Ottawa requested a suspension of travel to Mexico and the Caribbean as well as the adoption of new quarantine measures and testing requirements.

“We’re very pleased we were able to resume operations as scheduled on July 30 and move into the restart phase where our activities can gradually expand, and particularly as we look forward to a winter season that promises to be much busier than the last one. While we must continue to exercise caution given the evolving health situation, and although a full return to normal is still some time away, we’re very keen to get the crisis behind us,” stated Annick Guérard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Transat.

“Beyond resuming our operating activities, gradually recalling our employees and delivering training, we’ll be using this period to implement our strategic plan. We’ve announced two new destinations in the United States for the winter, we’re working on optimizing our capital structure, and we’re engaging in a number of discussions towards entering into airline partnership agreements. Our ambitions are high, but we’re on the right track,” Mrs. Guérard added.

The company has said it plans to offer flights to nearly 50 cities this winter, including destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, the United States and Europe.

The outlook, says Transat, is encouraging after observing the level of bookings and the increase in vaccination rates. However, the company says it remains impossible at the moment to predict the impact the pandemic will have on future bookings, the partial resumption of flight operations and financial results, which is why it is not providing an outlook for summer 2021 or winter 2022 for now.

With file from The Canadian Press