Transat seeing steady demand for winter travel in spite of fourth wave of COVID-19
Transat has seen steady customer demand since resuming flights earlier this summer, but the travel company said Thursday it still doesn't expect to return to its pre-pandemic level before 2023. Transat began a gradual resumption of flying on July 30 after grounding its fleet on Jan. 29 when Ottawa requested a suspension of travel to Mexico and the Caribbean as well as the adoption of new quarantine measures and testing requirements. The airline has since ramped up to 50 flights per week for the month of September and will increase to 70 flights per week in October, with 11 aircraft in operation, said CE Annick Guerard. In a conference call with analysts Thursday, Guerard said over 90% of Transat's destinations have been reopened. The airline's overall capacity this winter is still expected to be 35% lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Guerard said load factors (a measure of an airline's ability to fill its planes) and pricing have been better than anticipated. "We currently see good trends in the bookings, even if they tend to come in closer to the departure date than they used to," Guerard said. "People are still cautious, and they decide at the last minute. But it is very clear that they are eager to travel."<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2021-09-10/unaligned/transat-seeing-steady-demand-for-winter-travel-in-spite-of-fourth-wave-of-covid-19
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Transat seeing steady demand for winter travel in spite of fourth wave of COVID-19
Transat has seen steady customer demand since resuming flights earlier this summer, but the travel company said Thursday it still doesn't expect to return to its pre-pandemic level before 2023. Transat began a gradual resumption of flying on July 30 after grounding its fleet on Jan. 29 when Ottawa requested a suspension of travel to Mexico and the Caribbean as well as the adoption of new quarantine measures and testing requirements. The airline has since ramped up to 50 flights per week for the month of September and will increase to 70 flights per week in October, with 11 aircraft in operation, said CE Annick Guerard. In a conference call with analysts Thursday, Guerard said over 90% of Transat's destinations have been reopened. The airline's overall capacity this winter is still expected to be 35% lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Guerard said load factors (a measure of an airline's ability to fill its planes) and pricing have been better than anticipated. "We currently see good trends in the bookings, even if they tend to come in closer to the departure date than they used to," Guerard said. "People are still cautious, and they decide at the last minute. But it is very clear that they are eager to travel."<br/>
