Air Transat marks the 25th anniversary of its inaugural flight

The company that has grown to be Canada’s leading holiday travel airline made its first flight on November 14, 1987

Air Transat, Canada’s leading holiday travel airline and a wholly owned business unit of A.T. Inc., is marking the 25th anniversary of its inaugural flight today. On November 14, 1987, an Air Transat Lockheed L-1011 with 360 passengers aboard took off from Montreal for Acapulco.

“We have come an impressive distance in 25 years and I am extremely proud of the work and dedication of every one of our employees, which has enabled Air Transat to reach the peak of its industry and be recognized as an airline with exceptional standards of quality,” says Allen B. Graham, President of Transat Canada and President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Transat. He added: “I also want to thank the millions of passengers who have been loyal to us and who, year after year, place their trust in us when the time comes for them to plan their holiday travel and overseas trips.”

Since 1987, Air Transat has carried nearly 50 million passengers to more than 60 destinations. The only Canadian airline offering direct transatlantic flights to over 30 European cities, Air Transat is also known for its expansive array of Sun destinations.

Over the years, the know-how and desire to excel that has set the company apart, as well as the remarkable contribution of all of Air Transat’s teams, have been acknowledged by numerous awards, distinctions and recognitions in the areas of customer service, customer experience, exemplary on-time performance, sustainable development and its unique Kids Club program for young travellers and their parents. Earlier this year, Air Transat was named World’s Best Leisure Airline at the World Airline Awards organized by Skytrax, and was also named Most climate efficient North American Net Carrier by the German organization atmosfair.

Last May, in its ongoing effort to continually improve its service and provide customers with superior comfort and flight experience, Air Transat unveiled its all-new, entirely redesigned cabin interior. Thanks to an investment of nearly $4 million per aircraft, the holiday now begins as soon as the passenger boards the plane!

Air Transat now has some 450 pilots, 1,800 flight attendants, 300 maintenance employees and 150 office staff. The airline makes about 8,000 flights annually out of 19 Canadian cities.

Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some 3 million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in 25 countries aboard its fleet of Airbus wide-body jets. The company employs more than 2,000 people. Air Transat is a business unit of Transat A.T. Inc., an integrated international tour operator with more than 60 destination countries and that distributes products in over 50 countries.