He’s only 70 years old and talks about giving way to newer blood.

But the man still arises every weekday at 4 a.m. (a little later on weekends) and has his tea. And a nice, eye-opening cigar.

Jean-Marc Eustache is undoubtedly a giant in Canadian travel; the man who started Air Transat and has battled heavy, in-his-face winds, only to come out smiling on the other end.

Eustache will be one of six Canadians inducted into the Canadian Travel Hall of Fame on May 17 at the TravelPulse Canada Readers’ Choice Awards in Toronto.

He began his career in the tourism industry in 1977 with Tourbec, a travel agency that specialized in student and youth tourism. (The Algerian-born, Canada-raised Eustache was studying at the University of Quebec at Montreal at the time). Subsequently, with Philippe Sureau and Lina De Cesare, he helped create Trafic Tours “to assemble our own products in the South and Europe and distribute them through travel agencies.”

They chartered Quebec aircraft in order to develop and control the product, manage the seats and negotiate the best price for their customers.

“It was the beginning of our adventure as a tour operator,” he told TravelPulse Canada. “This was also the beginning of our implementation of our vertical integration strategy, and the founding of Transat. We gave ourselves the means to develop and it worked. We acquired tour operators, created our own airline and developed our distribution network.

“We were young, excited and ambitious. We had the world at our doorstep and nothing could stop us.”

Oddly enough, Eustache didn’t grow up loving travel. He still doesn’t like jumping onto a plane, even one of his own.

“I got into this business by chance,” he said. “Tourbec, my first employer, needed a manager. I cut my teeth there.”

Transat, of course, which now flies to 60 destinations in 26 countries and has 5,000 employees, is obviously what Eustache is best known for.

“I have spent my entire adult life building this business, which has become a large integrated tourism company open to the world. The company is where it is today thanks to our loyal employees and partners. We also owe our success to the trust of our customers.

“Transat is my family,” he said. “Even though Transat is now a publicly traded company, the family spirit has always remained. What is remarkable is the loyalty and dedication of our employees. I am proud to see our employees growing up with the company and their offspring coming to work at Transat... and there is more than one. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

Without much modesty, I can say I helped make Transat what it is today... a proud organization, a passionate team, a company of fighters.”

Not that it’s been a consistently smooth ride.

“The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were the most difficult situation that Transat has ever had to face,”
Eustache recalled. “At first, we had to repatriate our passengers, and we were among the first to do so. Afterward, we reacted quickly: we grounded one-quarter of our fleet and laid off one-quarter of our employees, including managers, who fortunately were all rehired later.

“We had to weather the storm. We stuck together and tightened spending. We returned to normal about six months later.”

Eustache has kept to his unusual wake-up pattern for years now. He also stubbornly avoids modern technology. You might find a cigar clip in his pocket, but you won’t find a cell phone.

“I promise to get connected when I retire,” he said. “I’ll have a cell phone, an iPad Pro to read the newspapers and a computer. It's going to occupy my time. For now, I live very well without these devices, ( however surprising it may seem.}

Eustache sits on several boards and is still active in a couple, both of which he says “work for the betterment of society.”
One is Espace Go, the experimental theatre for women. The other is the Foundation of the University of Quebec at Montreal.

“These are two causes that are important to me. That allow me to return part of what society has given me,” he explained.

Even a man who has steered his company through tough times such as 9-11 isn’t sure what’s next for the travel industry.

“It’s a difficult question because even the so-called experts do not know. Or if they think they know, they are likely wrong. A few years ago, didn’t we hear that travel agencies would disappear in the near future? This is not the case, even though it is a changing sector.”

“That said, I think technology will play an ever-greater role. We will have to be at the forefront and at the cutting edge in this area to succeed. We are already investing heavily in technology and will continue to do so.”

Eustache said he sees more consolidation on the horizon.

“In my opinion, there is some consolidation coming in all areas of the travel industry, including distribution, airlines on the day foreign ownership limits are increased, and hotel chains. There will be two players: big and niche. And, finally, communication and customer knowledge will continue to be of paramount importance.”

At a party this week celebrating Transat’s 30 years of flying out of Toronto Pearson, Eustache joked with the audience about being a Habs fan but wishing (alas) the Leafs well in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He also chatted briefly with me about his future with the company and the new hotel division he’s set up for Transat.

Eustache, who has a chosen successor waiting in the wings in Annick Guerard, said he’s nearing retirement but doesn’t have a firm exit date in mind.

““It won’t take another 10 years, that’s for sure,” he said with a laugh.