04 September 2008

Air Transat adds 100,000 seats after Zoom failure

Air Transat Holidays is adding an extra 100,000 seats for summer 2009 to replace lost capacity following the collapse of Zoom.

The operator has already added 15 extra flights to repatriate passengers in the coming two weeks to and from Glasgow, Manchester and Gatwick to Toronto and western Canada.

For summer 2009 the extra 100,000 seats on top of planned capacity will be added to routes from Glasgow, London Gatwick and Manchester:

Glasgow Ã¢â¬' Vancouver
Gatwick - Vancouver
Manchester- Toronto
Glasgow Ã¢â¬' Calgary
Gatwick- Calgary
Glasgow Ã¢â¬' Toronto
Gatwick- Toronto
Gatwick- Montreal

Zoom suspended all operations and grounded its fleet last week as it entered into administration.

Kathryn Munro, communication & marketing director at Air Transat Holidays, said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœThereÃ¢â¬â¢s been an enormous demand for immediate travel Ã¢â¬' but this is now quietening down and we believe that everyone with immediate travel has now been re-booked.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœPassengers with winter and summer 09 bookings will continue to come in as people realise who their travel plans were with and now the initial rush is over.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe expect this to continue for the next week or so, especially as tour operators and agents have still to contact many passengers with affected travel dates not in the immediate weeks and month. We will release the full 09 summer schedule in the coming week once it is all loaded for sale.Ã¢â¬~

By Bev Fearis