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Air Transat is an airline based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, operating scheduled and charter flights and serving 90 destinations in 25 countries. The airline is owned and operated by Transat A.T. 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.
History
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. Today Air Transat is one of Canada's largest airlines.
Incidents and accidents
- On August 24 2001, Air Transat Flight 236, flying from Toronto to Lisbon with 306 people , had to have an emergency landing in the Azores without any engine power after running out of fuel over the Atlantic ocean. The aircraft safely landed at Lajes Air Base, on the island of Terceira. The aircraft was evacuated in 90 seconds. None of the 306 passengers and crew were seriously injured in the incident. The cause of the fuel loss was an incompatible component - designed for a different type of aircraft - in the plane's fuel system.
- 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).
Services
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, Faro, Fort-de-France, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, 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, Pointe-à-Pitre, 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
- It inaugurated nonstop service Montreal-Madrid on May 2006. It now operates a weekly flight departing Montreal on Monday and Madrid on Tuesday. On June 2006 it will add a 2nd weekly flight departing Montreal on Friday and Madrid on Saturday. Both frequencies will use an Airbus A310-300 and the Mon/Tue rotation originates and terminates in Toronto.
Fleet
The Air Transat fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of April 2006):
As of March 2006, Air Transat fleet average age is 13 years old.
Historical Fleet
External links
"Air Transat"