Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by fleet size and passengers carried. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 207 destinations worldwide. It is a founding member of the Star Alliance. Air Canada’s corporate headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec, while its largest hub is at Toronto Pearson International Airport.The airline’s regional service is Air Canada Express. Info From Wikipedia
Air Transat is a Canadian leisure airline based in Montreal, Quebec, operating scheduled and charter flights, serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. The airline is owned and operated by Transat A.T. Inc. Info From Wikipedia
Air Canada is in talks to buy Air Transat at a cost of $13 CAD per share valuing the company at about half a billion dollars. Air Transat said about a month ago that they had been approached by another airline to be purchased. This was speculated to be Westjet or Air Canada. The CEO of Air Transat had this to say about the deal:
“This announcement is good news for Transat, this is an opportunity to team up with a great company that knows and understands our industry, and has had undisputable success in the travel business. This represents the best prospect for not only maintaining, but growing over the long term the business and jobs that Transat has been developing in Quebec and elsewhere for more than 30 years.” - Air Transat CEO, Jean-Marc Eustache
With Air Transat making up 20% of the flights to Europe and 22% percent of the flights to the Caribbean from Canada, Air Canada stands to benefit greatly. Air Transat is a big competitor to their subsidiary, Air Canada Rouge. By buying the airline they eliminate competition and get the upper hand on Westjet.
Most of the info that I got about the purchase came from this article by the CBC
Obviously not necessarily any good really. This may mean higher prices for customers as there will be less competition and from what I noticed Air Canada isn’t exactly a cheap airline for long haul travel either.
Yeah from the perspective of Air Canada this is a good thing. I am worried about prices because Canadian travel is already very expensive which is why Canadian LCC’s like Air Transat and Sunwing are growing so quickly. At this point if the deal goes through they have 2 options. 1 is to keep Air Transat separate, which is the best for the customers, or 2: integrate Air Transat into Air Canada Rouge which would be best for the airline.
I don’t know, could be bad for business as there will only be 2 big airlines in Canada, and if WestJet is bought out by Air Canada (which they more then likely can) then there will only be one airline with set prices and won’t be competing against anybody else in the market for Canada. Which would/could be a bad thing for Canadians
Amazing how the Canadian aviation part of the world is rapidly changing. I don’t think that this is in the best interest of the people of Canada, and people going to or connecting to Canada. If AC dominates the market with only ‘premium’ prices, then that could be worrisome for the Canadian aviation industry. Although just I’m gone an Air Canada A310. (Although it may not happen.)
Air Canada is consistently losing market share against Westjet, Flair Air, Air Transat, and Sunwing along with many new start up airlines. This is why they started Air Canada Rouge. They were trying to regain some of the market they lost on routes that are more tourist based. It’s unlikely Air Transat will be directly incorporated into AC, so we can expect a similar set of prices to what they have now.
Well being Canadian, I’ve flown on both and actually flown on an Air Transat A310 a while back. I think this would be a fine move from AC’s part though.
I’m curious how the Canadian Competition Bureau will handle this transaction, and whether it will look at overlaps between Air Canada and Transat, or Air Canada’s subsidiary Rouge.
