Air Transat suspends Zagreb service for 2020
Air Transat has confirmed it is suspending operations to Zagreb for the 2020 summer season. The Canadian leisure carrier, which is restarting its flights and tour operator activities on July 23, will only maintain fourteen routes in Europe this summer, while 25 others have been suspended. "This is a first step towards getting healthy operations back on track, from both a business and financial perspective", Air Transat’s CEO, Jean-Marc Eustache, said. As a result, Zagreb will not be linked with Canada’s largest city this year for the first time in five years. Last month, Air Canada Rouge also announced it was suspending its Zagreb operations for the year.
Air Transat planned to resume flights to the Croatian capital on June 2. The route was to run twice per week during the first two weeks, increasing to three weekly from the week starting June 15 until September 14, when services were again to be reduced to two weekly. Flights were to be reduced to one weekly from October 13 until the end of the 2020 summer season, on October 31. Air Canada Rouge and Air Transat carried 65.486 passengers between Zagreb and Toronto last year, representing an increase of 14.6% on 2018. "The market conditions of the global industry have been completely transformed”, Air Transat said in a statement.
The development comes as the process of Transat being taken over by Air Canada continues at a glacial pace. Last summer, Transat's shareholders approved a takeover offer that would see the company bought out by Air Canada for 720 million Canadian dollars. However, the deal still needs the approval of regulatory authorities in Canada and Europe, who need to be assured the transaction wouldn’t reduce competition. Zagreb is one of the routes on which Air Canada and Air Transat overlap. The deal between the two companies was struck before the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, which has changed the outlook for the industry. "While the corporation remains firmly committed to completing the transaction with Air Canada, certain factors beyond its control and related to the Covid-19 pandemic could influence the outcome of the proposed arrangement", Air Transat said yesterday.
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