Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks as well to the members of the committee for the invitation to appear today on behalf of my 5,000 Air Transat colleagues.

Established in Montreal in 1987, Air Transat it is an affordable, people-centred, international holiday airline.

Air Transat connects Canadians to some 54 international destinations in more than 25 countries in the Americas and Europe—and soon, Africa—from eight Canadian cities. Air Transat carries five million passengers every year, including half a million visitors to Canada.

Air Transat is uniquely positioned as an affordable, reliable, international air travel option for Canadians. Our 37 years in the European and sun markets has enhanced competition and lowered prices for Canadians. Air Transat is eager to work with government and with Parliament to protect competition in Canada.

Air Canada is a dominant player, offering 39% of Canada's international airline seats. To southern sun destinations, WestJet and Sunwing together held 50% of our national market when they emerged, with a share of over 70% of western Canada seats to the sun. From Montreal to Europe, Air Canada has grown its seat offering by well over 60% since 2019.

Both Montreal and Toronto airports will undergo much-needed infrastructure upgrades and construction over the coming years. Airport infrastructure, slots and gates, especially at peak times and in peak season, will be in very high demand.

As the aviation experts noted to this committee on Tuesday, we will need to work closely with airports, partners and government to ensure that access to infrastructure during the coming years of construction and beyond at our key hub airports does not impair competition as dominant industry players continue to grow significantly.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying travel restrictions forced Air Transat, as a purely international carrier, to entirely suspend its operations in 2020 and 2021. Each time, we were making sure to repatriate tens of thousands of our customers safely back home from around the world at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Eighty-five per cent of my fellow employees were laid off, and our revenues disappeared completely.

In our 33-year prepandemic history, Air Transat never sought financial support from government. We have rebounded from the pandemic and returned to our full prepandemic employment level of 5,000 workers, to revenues of $3 billion and to a fleet of just under 40 large commercial jets.

Our previously debt-free company, which had almost $700 million of liquidity in its coffers in 2018, was able to endure thanks to some $800 million of emergency pandemic loans from the federal government under programs unanimously authorized by Parliament. Of the $800 million loans, $350 million flowed directly to passengers in the form of refunds in 2021.

Your intervention worked. These loans saved Air Transat and 5,000 jobs from the ravages of the pandemic to continue as a strong and reliable competitor in the market, and we are here to thank you for it. This was no small feat. As was noted in committee on Tuesday, Lynx is no longer in business, and Sunwing has since been acquired by WestJet.

Without the pandemic and our large resulting indebtedness, Air Transat would have been in a much more favourable financial position to grow and further enhance competition in Canada.

Three years later, market conditions have evolved significantly in our industry. We recommend that the government undertake a review of the pandemic supports that were offered, how these arrangements are now operating and whether adjustments could be made that would continue to enhance competition in the marketplace.

It may sound odd for an airline to say this, but we welcome fewer restrictions on ownership. We need more capital to be able to compete. While we would not change ultimate ownership restriction at 49% for non-Canadians, we believe it is futile to leave the limit on a single foreign shareholder at 25%, particularly in the age of large global airline alliances.

In closing, while some airlines are exiting some markets, we are offering Canadians more choice. Air Transat has entered into a new commercial joint venture with Porter Airlines whereby the two airlines will code-share and offer convenient, seamless, affordable domestic and international travel options for Canadians.

We will connect Porter's growing domestic and North American network with Air Transat's expanding international network. This commercial agreement is a major win for travellers and for airline competition in Canada, with expanded service to more and more cities.

Thank you once again for your invitation to appear today.

I will be pleased to continue the discussion with committee members.