Montreal (AFP)
The Canadian airline Air Transat will resume its flights from July 23 to twenty destinations, including France, announced Thursday its parent company.
The third Canadian airline, being bought by Air Canada, suspended all flights on April 1 and laid off more than 85% of its 5,000 employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Transat AT, the parent company of the company, plans to serve from Montreal and Toronto thirteen destinations in Europe (France, United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Portugal) and five in the United States and the Caribbean (Mexico, Republic Dominican, Cuba, Haiti and Florida) until the end of the summer season, October 31.
Transat will notably resume its flights to Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Marseille and Toulouse, according to a press release from the group. However, those to Nice, Basel-Mulhouse and Brussels remain suspended.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation at the end of May into Air Canada's plan to buy Transat, fearing a reduction in competition in the transatlantic air transport market.
The project is also being examined by the Canadian Department of Transport.
Transat now plans to complete its sale by the end of the year.
Transat shareholders approved last summer the group's takeover by Air Canada for a total amount of 720 million Canadian dollars (467 million euros).
Transat announced on Thursday a loss of 180 million Canadian dollars in the second quarter of its staggered fiscal year 2020, against a loss of $ 1 million for the same period ended April 30 last year.
© 2020 AFP