Air Transat may have difficulty raising fares in 2019
During last Thursday’s conference call with financial analysts, Air Transat’s management said it would increase its rates next year to offset rising fuel prices.
If a slight increase is possible for south bound destination this winter, it would be very surprising that this is the case for transatlantic flights of the summer season 2019. The arrival of European carriers will increase the offer substantially on the routes served by Air Transat.
Norwegian will start offering flights to Guadeloupe and Martinique this winter and it should not be surprising that it also wants to offer flights to Europe next summer. Primera Air will launch its Paris-Montreal route this fall with A321NEO-LR and Aer Lingus has announced that it will open a daily Dublin-Montreal route from August 2019. In addition to these, there is a strong rumor that the Portuguese carrier TAP would like to relaunch the Lisbon-Montreal route next year and there is also another European discount carrier that would like to open Bordeaux-Montreal in 2019.
There will be a strong increase in seats available on several destinations offered by Air Transat and the competition will be very strong. Fortunately, the Quebec carrier can count on the arrival of A321NEO-LR in its fleet to significantly reduce fuel consumption compared to its old A310. But it would be very surprising if it manages to impose a rise in the context of strong competition that will prevail on transatlantic flights in the summer of 2019.
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