Transat’s losses narrowed in fiscal 2022, as revenue soared with the company bringing back much of its pre-pandemic capacity. Finances should continue to improve in 2023, with travel demand and pricing remaining strong.

"The recovery in travel, already very real in the third quarter, accelerated in the fourth. This shows that people still want to travel and travel spending is a priority for them, even amid an economic slowdown and rising inflation,” said Transat CEO Annick Guérard.

“During the past quarter, Transat responded to the demand and deployed a program based on its traditional strengths of combining European and sun destinations, which were very popular and allowed us to continuously improve our load factors.”

Guérard says several indicators show that Transat is well-positioned for the winter season.

“The pace of reservations is currently equivalent to that of 2019. Strong demand is driving up prices, which is helping us to deal with higher costs. As a result, Transat ended fiscal 2022 with solid momentum and a significant decrease in its adjusted operating loss. If the trend continues, the outlook for 2023 is encouraging," Guérard stated.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, Transat posted revenues of $573.1 million, with an adjusted operating loss of $11.5 million, down from $48.8 million in Q4 2021.

For the full year, Transat generated revenues of $1,642.0 million with an adjusted operating loss of $156.8 million compared to $303.4 million the year before.

Customer deposits for future travel stood at $602.5 million, up 7% from pre-pandemic levels (as at October 31, 2019), reflecting the recovery in demand and higher average selling prices.

Among the highlights for Transat in 2022, it launched a new codeshare partnership with Porter Airlines. This agreement, part of Air Transat's network development strategy, is in addition to the one entered into with WestJet and the 10 active virtual interlining partnerships, bringing the total number of destinations now available via Air Transat bookings to more than 300.

Transat placed a new order at the end of November for two more A321LRs, as part of its ongoing fleet renewal. This order, plus that for four A321XLRs announced in the third quarter, will bring to 23 the number of next-generation aircraft received or ordered.

For 2023 as a whole, Transat expects to deploy capacity equivalent to 90% of the 2019 level, which the company says is consistent with IATA projections for its main markets.

For winter 2023 to date, load factors are comparable to 2019 levels and are already over 55% across the network. Airline unit revenues are approximately 15% higher than in winter 2019. Transat says the combination of demand and higher prices will allow it to absorb higher costs.