Air Transat expecting to resume flights by mid-June

Air Transat has announced that it is aiming to return to the skies by the summer of 2021.

In financial results released on March 11, the budget airline said it expects to resume operations during the high summer season, around mid-June.

“With the arrival of vaccines, we’re now preparing ourselves for a resumption of operations in the summer and particularly next winter,” said Jean-Marc Eustache, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Transat A.T. Inc., in a release.

The airline noted that factors introduced by COVID-19, such as border closures and quarantine measures, have created “significant” uncertainty in demand for its services.

Air Transat said that while there was hope that it could resume operations to some degree before the end of the year, it does not expect to reach pre-pandemic levels before 2023 in the “best-case scenario.”

• See also:
  • Air Transat temporarily cancels all flights due to COVID-19 restrictions
  • Air Canada officially taking over Air Transat
  • Major Canadian airlines cancelling air service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico

“The Corporation cannot predict all the impacts of COVID-19 on its operations and results, or precisely when the situation will improve,” the airline said.

In January, Air Transat temporarily suspended all flights in response to the federal government’s travel restrictions.

At the time, the airline said flights would resume on April 30.