AIR TRANSAT
AT A GLANCE
Pilot Flexibility Helps Airline Return
To Profitability
By John Perkinson, Staff Writer
S
hort-term sacrifices appear to be paying
off for the Air Transat pilots, who are
poised to begin contract negotiations in
early 2015. With unified leadership, a reinvigorated communications network, and an improved relationship with management, the pilots
have positioned themselves to make the most of
their company’s recent success.
“We sent a notice to bargain at the end of
December,” says Capt. Patrice “Pat” Roy, who
became the group’s Master Executive Council
(MEC) chairman in February 2014. Roy, who
previously served as temporary chair until formal elections could be held, notes that the pilots’
collective agreement, which now expires April
30, 2015, was previously extended.
“The company was losing money, and
management came to the employees looking
for help,” he says. The pilots hedged their bets,
optimistic that the carrier could reverse its recent misfortune. The pilots agreed to a pay freeze
in exchange for a profit-sharing provision. And
sure enough, parent company Transat A.T., Inc.
announced revenues of $3.6 billion for 2013 and
$3.8 billion for 2014. As a result, the pilots earned
more during this time than they would have had
they simply kept their scheduled rate increases.
Air Transat’s improved performance is also
due to the carrier’s modified business plan. The
airline is part of a large, integrated international
tour operator, offering travel packages that include airfare, hotels, and other amenities. Under
the airline’s previous business model, it operated
a fleet of A310s and A330s to transport passengers to the Caribbean, Mexico, the U.S., and
Central America during Canada’s colder months
and to Europe during the summer.
“Our widebody aircraft were extremely
hard to fill with passengers headed to southern
destinations,” notes Roy, explaining the airline’s
declining revenues. “The A330 has 340 seats. The
last 100 seats were always hard to sell.”
Air Transat decided to try a different approach. The airline opted to park a portion of its
widebody fleet and acquired B-737s for its winter
operations. This seasonal shift compelled the
airline to reconsider staffing requirements.
Air Transat responded by creating more than
a hundred dual-qualified positions on the pilot
roster that required affected pilots to fly an
Airbus for half of the year and transition to the
B-737 for the other half.
The airline’s decision to create this dualqualification status was a creative way for the
airline to avoid using temporary foreign pilots.
The company, with the assistance of the MEC,
has been lobbying for years against the controversial Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Some of Air Transat’s direct
competitors in Canada use
temporary foreign workers
to meet seasonal demands.
On July 1, Parliament
mandated that Canadian
airlines would no longer be
allowed to fill pilot vacancies with foreign pilots to
address seasonal variations
in fleet capacity when unemployed Canadian pilots
are available for hire.
“Even though the government has instituted these changes regarding
foreign workers, some carriers are using the
program this winter, which gives them an unfair
advantage,” acknowledges Roy. “We haven’t
been able to stop this practice completely.”
However Roy says that Air Transat hired nearly
70 new pilots in 2014, a positive indication that
the airline has no intention of using temporary
foreign workers and will continue to employ
Canadian pilots on a full-time basis.
In May, the MEC created a second local
council (LEC 225) in Toronto to supplement the
group’s original council (LEC 200) in Montreal,
further evidence of the carrier’s growth.
Roy remains positive about Air Transat’s
future. He describes the pilots’ relationship with
management as “cordial,” adding that grievances
are typically resolved quickly and in house. The
carrier has made adjustments to better position
itself in the Canadian vacation market, and the
pilots are optimistic that the upcoming contract
negotiations can help create a better work
environment for crewmembers and, ultimately,
a stronger airline.
Pilots joined ALPA: 1999
Number of pilots: 460
Pilot bases: Montreal, P.Q.;
Toronto, Ont.; and Vancouver, B.C.
Operations: The airline
provides scheduled and
charter flying, transporting more than 2.5 million
passengers to nearly 60
destinations in 30 countries each year
Fleet: A310-300s and
A330-200s and -300s,
plus B-737-700s and
-800s
From left, Capts. Patrick
Cloutier, Claude Bouchard,
and Marc Ouimet prepare
to board their flight.