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  Air Transat

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  TS/TSC

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Year Founded:

  1986

  CEO:

  Annick Guérard

  Country:

  Canada

  Hub(s):

  Montréal–Trudeau International Airport

  Region:

  North America

Earlier this week, Canadian leisure airline Air Transat inaugurated its first-ever flight to the sunshine state of California. The airline’s A321LR landed in Los Angeles on May 16th, flying as TS240 from Montreal.

The aircraft used for the flight was C-GOIM, one of 10 A321LRs used by the airline. It’s a one-and-a-half-year-old Airbus, delivered new to the airline in November 2020. It’s the first time Transat has flown to California, and will continue throughout the summer season three times weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Speaking about the launch of California service, Joseph Adamo, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at the airline, commented,

“We are thrilled to be operating this route and flying passengers to a multifaceted city that is known for its many tourist attractions, but that also represents an excellent gateway to the rest of California. The new flight shows our commitment to developing the transborder market and offering new destinations to travellers seeking discovery and experiences.”

But Transat is not stopping at one Cali destination, because today it has opened its first direct route from Montreal to San Francisco.

Multi-destination flights possible

Inaugurated yesterday, the carrier’s A321LR landed as TS224 in San Francisco from Montreal. The inaugural flight was operated by C-GOIJ, a two-year-old Airbus, delivered in July 2020 and leased from AerCap.

The San Francisco service will operate on Thursdays and Sundays only, until the end of October. The awesome thing about this addition is that passengers will be able to book a multi-destination routing, arriving in Los Angeles and departing from San Francisco, or vice versa. This opens up possibilities for a coastal road trip or other adventures in the Bay Area. Adamo commented,

“We are very excited to open up a whole new world of discovery and sunshine to our customers with the addition of San Francisco as a second Californian destination for Air Transat.”

Why California?

According to Statistics Canada, California is the fourth most visited US State by Canadians, behind Florida, New York, and Washington. More than 1.6 million Canadians visit California each year, although the lockdowns and border controls of the last couple of years have seen visits severely curtailed.

Now, with travel free and easy once more, airlines are expecting a surge in visitors to the warm spots in the US. However, Air Transat will have some competition in snagging the traffic for these routes.

For the San Francisco route, for example, Air Canada is operating 62 flights through the month of August, compared with Transat’s 16. The situation is the same at LAX, with Air Canada’s 62 flights competing against Transat’s 28.

Nonetheless, the routes from Montreal remain woefully underserved by US airlines, with carriers like American Airlines and United maintaining connections from these airports to Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary only. With its offer of a multi-destination holiday, Air Transat’s service could appeal to Canadians looking for sun and adventure over the border this summer.

Source: Statistics Canada