Sitting behind Air Canada and WestJet, Air Transat presently ranks as Canada's third-largest airline. The carrier, whose operations primarily target leisure traffic, currently operates a 31-aircraft fleet that consists entirely of Airbus planes. But which designs, exactly? Let's take a closer look at Air Transat's fleet strategy.

Going wide with the A330

According to ch-aviation.com, the Air Transat fleet currently consists of 31 aircraft, with these jets having an overall average age of 16.7 years old. Almost 40% of these are widebodies, with 12 examples of the Airbus A330 presently at Air Transat's disposal. 11 of these twinjets are examples of the short-fuselage A330-200.

Despite clocking in at a relatively high average age of 18.3 years old, Air Transat's A330-200s remain well-used, with just one (C-GUBD) listed as being inactive for maintenance. Historically speaking, the airline has operated another seven A330-200s. In 2001, one of these glided 121 km (65 NM) to make an emergency landing in the Azores after running out of fuel on a flight from Toronto to Lisbon.

Air Transat's A330-200s have a 12-seat club class cabin, along with either 320 (seven aircraft) or 333 (four aircraft) economy seats. Unlike most A330 operators, the airline lays these out nine-abreast in a 3-3-3 configuration. This is also the case on 21.3-year-old C-GTSD, which is Air Transat's sole A330-300. This longer version of the twin-engine widebody has 12 club and 363 economy seats.

Air Transat Airbus A330 Getty
Air Transat's A330s are its oldest aircraft. Photo: Getty Images

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Older A321s

Regarding narrowbody aircraft, Air Transat favors the Airbus A321, of which it flies two different generations. The older of these is the A321-200, which falls under the wider umbrella of the first-generation A321ceo series.

At present, seven A321-200s are at Air Transat's disposal, and the airline has also operated another 12 examples historically. Those still in its fleet today have an average age of 10.6 years old, and are all presently active.

Each of Air Transat's A321ceo aircraft is fitted with 190 seats, offering a standard economy class pitch of 32-33 inches. According to the carrier, these operate in a one-class setup when flying internationally, but have a small club class section at the front on domestic flights. This seems to function similarly to European short-haul business class, with blocked middle seats providing extra space.

Air Transat Airbus A321LR
Photo: Airbus

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Newer narrowbodies

Air Transat's remaining 12 aircraft from the next-generation Airbus A321neo family, and are, specifically, examples of the A321LR variant. Known, as its name suggests, for its long-range capabilities, this aircraft type will be the future of the carrier's single-aisle operations. After all, it still has another five examples on order. The first of its existing examples joined Air Transat back in May 2019.

Owing to the longer-haul nature of the A321LR's operations, the carrier has fitted these aircraft, like the A330s, with a 12-seat club class cabin. This consists of three rows of four reclining seats that offer 38 inches of pitch. Situated behind them is a 187-seat economy class section, where the standard seat pitch is 31 inches.

What do you make of Air Transat's current fleet? How many of its aircraft have you flown on? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!