Air Transat COO on the carrier’s transformation into a network carrier

Air Transat is one of the most compelling transformation stories among American carriers in recent years.  

Once a leisure-focused airline devoted almost exclusively to ferrying Canadians to sun-soaked destinations, the carrier has undergone a remarkable reinvention following an unsuccessful acquisition bid launched by Air Canada in 2019. 

The saga lasted for almost two years, with the deal finally collapsing after the European Union competition authorities indicated that it would be rejected. It is hard to say up to which degree those events contributed to what happened next, but the fact is that, in the course of the last four years, Air Transat has managed to thoroughly reorient its business model to continue operating as an independent airline. 

AeroTime was given the opportunity to speak with Air Transat’s Chief Operations Officer (COO), Marc-Philippe Lumpé, during the World Aviation Festival, a large airline industry event which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, between October 7 and 9, 2025. 

“Air Transat was really the transportation arm of a tour operator. So that’s why, when I am in Europe, I compare it to Thomas Cook,” Lumpé explained. “But this has changed in the last couple of years. Of course, we still have the tour operator business, and we value our clients there very much, but the center of gravity of the business has changed towards that of a more classical network carrier, with a broadening of both our customer and destination base.” 

“This is a strategic shift we have carried out in the last few years,” he added.  

Lumpé explained that while the tour operator business now represents a smaller part of the overall business than in the past, it still accounts for a relatively high percentage of its activity.  

“That’s why I’m saying we still value it a lot,” he said. “Just because you have a strategic shift, that doesn’t mean that you shrink one business. It just means that you grow another part of the business more.” 

A more diverse traffic profile 

From its dual bases in Toronto and Montreal, Air Transat continues to serve numerous destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico, its traditional core markets. But it has also expanded to cover quite a few European and Latin American routes.  

This contrasts with the airline’s light footprint in Canada, where it operates very few domestic services, and the United States (outside of Florida). 

“What has been strengthening is the VFR traffic [Visiting Friends and Relatives – ed. note], people flying home to see parents, relatives, friends,” Lumpé explained. “We also have business travelers, but they are what I would call ‘cost-conscious business travelers’, because our premium economy product is actually very good. I would argue it’s probably one of the best in the industry and [is] offered at a very competitive price.” 

“So, if you don’t want to pay the extra premium for a business seat, we have a very good alternative,” Lumpé added, before going on to explain the evolution of Air Transat’s business model.  

The carrier offers two classes of product: economy and economy premium. When it comes to positioning Air Transat on the low-cost to full-service airline spectrum, Lumpé said the airline is more towards the full-service side, particularly when all the available services are taken into account.  

He remarked, however, that Air Transat’s offering also includes some hybrid elements. “It’s certainly not a low-cost approach,” he stated. 

Fleet strategy 

When it comes to the fleet strategy, Lumpé noted that while fleet choices were made before the airline’s strategic shift, these have aligned perfectly with Air Transat’s current mission profiles. 

“For example, when it was decided to add the A321LR [Long Range – ed. note] to the fleet, the strategic shift of the airline had not yet been decided,” he explained. “But the fleet that we have now is very helpful our strategy.”  

As of November 2025, Air Transat has 16 Airbus A330 widebody aircraft (of both the –200 and –300 versions) as well as 27 A321s, of which 19 are of the LR version mentioned by Lumpé. Air Transat also has four A321XLRs with extra range on order. 

“We have 16 widebodies, which is important for long range routes of high capacity, and also shorter-range ones which are also high capacity, like Cancun, for example,” he said. “But we have a very strong element in the A321LR, which gives us transatlantic capability. With the A321 you can go to Paris, you can go to Lisbon, for example, from Canada.”  

“It is helpful to make sure that we can serve a huge variety of destinations, and we don’t necessarily need a lot of passengers to do that,” he continued. “Because of its size, the A321 is very good for secondary routes, which allows us to do a lot of niche markets as well. That’s very helpful for the strategy.”  

What sort of routes are we talking about?  

According to Lumpé, during the summer months, the routes are focused on Europe, while in the winter, as Canadian travel behavior begins to change, the company shifts its center of gravity towards the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and, increasingly, South America. He also noted that Air Transat is largely absent from the domestic Canadian market.   

However, in 2023, Air Transat struck up a comprehensive strategic partnership with Canadian carrier Porter Airlines with a strong domestic and regional reach. Air Transat and Porter Airlines codeshare on numerous routes and facilitate the transfer of passengers between their respective networks. 

“It is probably the most natural tie-up that you can think of because Porter does things that we don’t do, and we do stuff that Porter doesn’t,” Lumpé said. “They also have different aircraft. They have the small Q400s turboprops and a quite a big fleet of E2 jets [Porter Airlines operates De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q400 turboprops and Embraer E190 E2 – ed. note], which are quite a bit smaller than our smallest jets.  

“So, there’s literally no overlap, but we can help each other. They can feed into Toronto and Montreal for us, and we take those passengers on long range routes. So, it’s a very beneficial cooperation and we have a joint venture in place between our companies.” 

Lumpé declined to disclose specific figures about the scope of this joint venture but was full of praise for the way it is performing. 

“We don’t comment on this, but I can tell you that it’s very successful, and we are very happy with the cooperation,” he said. “And I think I can also talk for our colleagues from Porter in saying that it’s a great success commercially, but also from the point of view of the interaction. Because sometimes in tie-ups, you have cultural frictions between companies. We don’t have that. We are harmonizing very well with each other.” 

Deepening ties and investing in technology 

So, what does the future have in store for Air Transat? In the short term, Lumpé said the plan is to deepen ties with Porter.  

“Beyond that, we’re going to execute more on the existing strategy,” he said, adding that Air Transat plans to continue growing in those markets where it sees strong Origin & Destination (O&D) performance, while continuing to leverage its partnership with Porter in all other routes.  

Lumpé also highlighted that the Canadian carrier had sets its sights not just on Europe, but also on more far-flung markets.  

“We now also have a cooperation with Turkish Airlines that is going to help us access Asia, So, the network is growing,” he said.  

When it comes to the future of its fleet, Lumpé confirmed that Air Transat is awaiting the arrival of A321XLRs from 2027. These aircraft are in addition to the existing A321LR fleet. 

“They are going to further grow the narrowbody reach and then we’ll see,” he said. “We’re working on quite a few things, but we would have to talk about this maybe in a year or so!”   

Lumpé also revealed that the carrier is investing heavily in technology. 

“On the on the maintenance side, for instance, Air Transat is the first airline in Canada to go 100% digital, and we’re driving a lot of developments,” he said. “That’s just to give you an example. We’re also driving a lot of developments in the digital AI arena.” The post Air Transat COO on the carrier’s transformation into a network carrier appeared first on AeroTime.

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