is an
Airline based in
Montreal ,
Quebec ,
Canada , operating scheduled and charter flights and serving 90 destinations in 25 countries. During the summer season its main destinations are
Europe and domestic flights within Canada and in the winter season the
Caribbean ,
Mexico ,
USA and
South America . It is the designated carrier between Canada and
Cuba . Its main bases are
Toronto Pearson International Airport ,
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and
Vancouver International Airport , with hubs at
Halifax International Airport and
Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport .
Air Transat was founded by former
Quebecair employees in December
1986 as an off-shoot of Trafic Voyages. It made its inaugural flight on
November 14 1987 , travelling from
Montreal to
Acapulco . Six years later, Air Transat assumed defunct
Nationair 's maintenance base and aircraft. Today, the company books 2.5 million passengers a year. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transat A.T. Inc., specializing in organizing, marketing, and distributing vacation travel and packages. The organization comprises tour operators based in Canada and France.
- On March 6 2005 , on an Air Transat flight from Cuba to Quebec , using an Airbus A310 -300 with 9 crew and 261 passengers on board, most of the rudder separated during the cruise. The crew were aware something was wrong and returned to Varadero , Cuba, where they made a safe landing. The reason for the rudder structural failure is still under investigation. It has been established that no unusual rudder inputs had been used by the crew during the flight, they were not manipulating the rudder when it failed and there was no obvious fault in the rudder or yaw-damper system (ref: Flight International, July 2005).
Air Transat specializes in charter flights from several Canadian and European cities to vacation destinations, mainly in the south during the winter months and in Europe during the summer. It also operates scheduled services as follows (
As Of January 2005 ):
- International scheduled destinations: Amsterdam, Acapulco, Athens, Bordeaux, Brussels, Camaguey, Cancun, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Frankfurt, Fort-de-France, Holguin, Ixtapa, La Ceiba, La Romana, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, Lyon, Madrid, Managua, Manchester, Manzanillo (CU), Manzanillo (MX), Marseilles, Montego Bay, Nantes, Nice, Panama City, Paris-Charles De Gaulle, Porlamar, Port-au-Prince, Porto, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Rome-Fiumicino, San Andres Island, San Jose, San Salvador, Santa Clara, Santiago, Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, Toulouse, Varadero
The Air Transat fleet consists of the following aircraft (
As Of February 2006 ):
In March 2006, Air Transat fleet average age is 13 years old.
Historical Fleet
