ArekDeBoss

Does anybody know what is happening with air Transat? It looks like they are not flying from Manchester at the moment- earliest bookings available are in may.
I heard they went into a liquidation but air Canada bought them out?
Are they actually flying from UK to Canada at all?
Thanks

DigitalGhost

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They've suspended their European routes until after Easter due to low demand. I took one from Manchester to Toronto a few months ago and they merged it with a Glasgow flight but even then the passenger numbers were tiny.

They haven't gone into liquidation. A merger with AC has been on the cards for a few years now and was supposed to close in 2020 but for obvious reasons that didn't happen. The merger is still on schedule but may be blocked by the EU due to competition law.
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scilly

I believe the deal with AC is all but complete ........... lower price for shares than was originally offered, but then AT was much less profitable. The offere accepted was about 70% lower than the first.

AC is cancelling more routes and laying off staff.

Not sure I would bank on AT being back any time soon ............ covid you know!

Check this link .....

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/tran...-bid-1.5264162

withabix

AC deal is going ahead unless EU blocks it.

The airlines have access to more money than they are admitting to.

Siouxie

Air Transat have always had a reduction in flights from some airports in the UK in winter.. just as they do to some airports in Canada in winter.

Once Air Transat get taken over prices will rise again - just as they did when Canada 2000/3000, Thomas Cooke and the other charter airlines stopped trading. Once that happened the days of return flights from Gatwick to Toronto costing around £100 were gone for good.
Very disappointed to hear this news.

DigitalGhost

They might or, hopefully, you could see more competition from WestJet if there is the demand for it.

Siouxie

The competition is/was Air Transat.. so I very much doubt it. Air Canada aren't likely to be lowering their prices at any time once they take Air Transat over.. and Westjet have their own problems without lowering their prices to compete.

DigitalGhost

The problem with overcharging for European routes though is they're extremely competitive because it's such a small but highly developed continent. For sure, the AC takeover of Transat can affect direct prices to regional airports like Glasgow and Manchester but if they go too far then I think most people living in the big Canadian cities will just accept the added inconvenience of connecting in London, Paris, Frankfurt or elsewhere.

I know of people in Scotland and Newcastle who pre-2020 had been taking their kids to Florida on holiday for years but had never once flown directly or would drive to Manchester because the local direct prices were too high. What I imagine is really bad though is when you live in one of the more sparse areas of Canada and need to go through ON, QC or BC to travel intercontinental. From what I've seen, the price of the internal flight can bump your overall flight cost exponentially and you're unlikely to want to face another transfer through De Gaulle or Schiphol after you've already had to spend 4 hours waiting for a connection in Toronto.

Paul_Shepherd

The two previous times I have flown to the UK I have gone with Air Canada, as the price wasn't much more than what Air Transat was offering, I chose Air Canada as they fly into Heathrow.... which is in a far better location than Gatwick (for most anyway) I think Gatwick is located in such a stupid place for an airport. by the time I added the extra cost, time and hassle of getting out of Gatwick, Heathrow was much more accessible with AC. Plus AC still offer free booze on transatlantic flights! lol

That said having AT there, was good to keep AC fares in check on similar routes, I doubt very much if any air fares will be cheap for a long time to come now, if ever. Which is saddening.

DigitalGhost

Yeah I've been looking at AC recently and the prices aren't too bad. I took an AT flight a few months ago and it was as basic as basic gets. Essentially the kind of service you would get on something like EasyJet although to flight attendants were extremely polite, accommodating, and friendly.