Air Transat Fleet

[hogster330]

Personally ,I do not feel Canjet has been slagged on this thread. I do not like the fact that Canjet is doing "our" work and in particular many flights that we operated in the past. It's not the fault of CJ's employees that the company is doing traditional Air Transat work. If the shoe was on the other foot, I am sure the feelings would be the same. We at Air Transat are very good at what we do and we want that work back and I find it a little arrogant of you to say that Canjet provides the same standard of service as Air Transat, something that has taken over 20 years to perfect.Canjet in one of form or another has operated 737's for 10 years but it has not carried our passengers for that long, many of whom travel with us every year ! I am sure Canjet is good at operating 737s,I know some of your "senior pilots" and they are good drivers.
When this work is repatriated, it will provide upgrades for our first officers and keep our furloughed f/a 's working.
There are apparently many issues with Canjet's performance. I can only repeat what I have heard through the company grapevine, some of it from senior management. On time performance has not been up to standard(supposedly less than 60% in Dec),not enough maintenance staff,bilingualism problems in quebec, and many passenger complaints.
You can say everything is great on your end and I can only tell you the word here is "it is not great" Something is obviously out of place because we are finally in the initial process of bringing in a narrow body type after the company preaching for years that they did not want to do that.
By the way, Air Atlantic never operated for 20 years, it was more like 13-14 years.

[Trainer]

You got me there. I was with AA for 10 years and I thought they were around in one form or another for 10 before that. Anyway, the point was we just didnt fall of the turnip truck yesterday. We have lots of experience too.

I can't speak to what you say other than based upon my experience as a professional, the level and standard of service given to your customers is equivalent to the service I I have experienced from your mainline, Air Canada or WestJet.

All seems the same to me.

All the best, and if you get your NG's, good luck!

[Squid]

Better brush off the resume trainer any contract can end or anyone can be fired contrary to most beliefs - One just has to write a big enough cheque.
I could never really understand why Transat contracted out so much in the first place.
It reveals a lot of their business plan and markets to other growing companies. Just look how westjet vacations is taking off. They saw all the markets and their challenges. Canjet is now sitting in the same seat.
I think it is a great strategy to do 5 machines then flex or ad hoc the other machines.

[Trainer]

Yup, its always been a dynamic business in Canada. No telling what the ladscape will look like in 2013. Anything is possible.

[CanadaEH]

There are two major changes in the competitive landscape over the past 2 years:

1. WestJet Vacations

It's no secret WestJet Vacation is enjoying significant growth. It has surpassed the expectations of everyone, including WestJet. It has become a major player across Canada in most of its markets and is a direct competitor to Transat/Nolitours, Signature, Sunwing, Air Canada, etc.

2. Sunwing being bought by Signature (TUI)

Many thought Sunwing was on its last legs, until it was bought by Signature. This injected a lot of capital into Sunwing, and, IMO, positioned itself to a position of strength. The big loser out of this will be Skyservice as it has traditionally done most of the flying for Signature.

Given the strength of WJV and the growth and stability of Sunwing (who I think its Transats largest competition), Transat needs to re-evaluate its business model. It has two options: 1) control its own product with the purchase of a narrowbody fleet or 2) remain price competitive and contract work. Tough choice, and I think very little if any has to do with what the pilots of Air Transat think is "their" flying.

[slapshot22]

Edited

[hogster330]

"The changes coming have a lot more to do Transat Corporate business strategy and positioning themselves and their products in a structure that will be able to compete effectively with their Main competitors now and in the future than ALPA concerns about foreign pilots.Do you really think JME will spend millions of dollars because Canjet is using some foreign pilots?? There is alot more to it than that!" my previous post

Yeah ,I think I already gave my thoughts on why I thought the new type is being brought in. The service is not the same. Anyone who has sat in the back of an airplane for many hours knows there is a difference in service and I am not talking about chocks off time/chocks on time.I agree that what the pilots do in the front is pretty much the same across all the companies in canada but I don't agree that what goes on behind the door is the same.Westjet cabin service is not the same as hot meal cabin service/premium service.Canjet pitch is not the same as Transat pitch.
I worked for Air Atlantic for 10 years and I know all the original people there.Good people. Like I said before, this change has a lot more to do with Sunwing and controlling our product than to do with Westjet Vacations who is a minor player. I for one am very happy to see the 737's coming,they should have been here all along.For the last 10 years all we did is expose potential competitors to our markets and made it easy for them move into the business.It was a tough pill to swallow for alot of us but now the tide is finally changing !!

[excel]

I heard that the maintenance course for the 737NG was cancelled by Air Transat.
It was to start February 1, can anyone confirm or deny this.

[slapshot22]

Edited

[Squid]

if it is true then its simple. CJ is crying foul to the terms of the contract. Only thickening the plot.

[excel]

if it is true then its simple. CJ is crying foul to the terms of the contract. Only thickening the plot.

Was maintenance part of the five year deal?
Did Air Transat expect to do maintenance on CJ 737's?

[AirBanana]

Whatever, what is true now will be false tommorrow.
They keep changing their minds, wich is good... for them.
Rumors are useless in this weathervane management.
We should just wait and see.

Concerning Canjet, one important principle in economy is diversification.
If I was a Canjet employee, I would be worried with this single-client business strategy.

Transat like to control their product. That's why Air Transat was created. Air Transat is the core and they use other airlines as a buffer or for other strategic or temporary needs (i.e. saving opportunities and at the same prevent Air Transat employees from being too greedy). It's a chess game for them and we are all their pawns.

[jazzbeat]

Whatever, what is true now will be false tommorrow

Bang on .... that's what aviation is all about....

[Huge Hammer]

It will be interesting to see if Air Transat brings in narrow bodies to service Transat Tours and Nolitours. The big challnege then is what do you do with them the rest of the season when not needed, better have a deal to send them to Eurpope.

The Club Class Service with a hot meal and bigger seat may have been more extensive than the WS service but the people in the back of the plane got a 6 inch Subway sub and that was it. The service was pretty bare.

The people on the WS flight got a box lunch but more importantly (IMO) they got a decent sized seat pitch. I see that Canjet is operating with 189 seats on their 800. It would be interesting to see what kind of feedback TTC is getting from their customers this year who were used to the more comfortable WS plane.

It is all about seat cost but you do have to wonder how many of those people took a TTC charter operated by WS and now are looking at a WVI product knowing that they won't be crammed like sardines.

I don't buy the arguement that somehow WS learned all about the charter business from Transat. Let's face it, while being a complicated business it boils down to the fact that people want to get out of the cold and there are popular spots they want to go.

[ghettowhitey]

Its amazing for someone new to the industry to be caught up in the drama that is being an FA- Recently a new hire with CanJet Airlines and thinking I was on top of the world, or at least a good 38,000 ft above it. Boy, was i surprised when shit started hitting the fan, and no amount of Lave Spray could douse this stentch... Transat is a business, a good business model in my mind- similiar to any of the Virgin corporations- they contract out all the shit work, while focusing on the growth as a larger picture. When the time comes that their current focus, in Transats case, new extended flights to larger further away destinations-Thailand etc... why not dump the shit to a Charter Company chomping at the bit to grow and play with the big boys? Excellent mindset on the part of Transat- do some FA's at the bottom of the rung get the shaft n wind up sitting on layoff at home- sure- but for what? 3 weeks? hell- its a holiday- enjoy it! CanJet booms into the industry scopping up whatever scraps Transat drops their way and increases their holiday contract flights form 1600 a season to over 4600. They bring in some hired thugs from TUI, some similiar aircraft and they are off and running.... now everyone has growing pains- CanJet no exception to the rules of life- they cookie cutter a few hundred FA's out of a training course, not minding the fact they cant speak a lik of english, and require a translating dictionary at their side the entire 6 week course, or that falling asleep during class or even worse of the floor of the aircraft during drills- or hell are caught redhanded cheating on your exams- thats OK- last minute hires for a workload about to quadruple in a moments time is OK.... (OMG)!
One must sit back and think- a man worth millions began the IMP Group (the corporation which owns CanJet) this is his pet project- he wanted an airline- he made one- GOOD MAN-KR. Granted a few poor decisions were made along the way, but WTF- you need to make mistakes in order to grow. CanJet isnt a bad place, just needs to iron out the wrinkles.
From a PAX point of view- unless yu travel each week on every airline, on every aircraft, the differences yu spot are few and far between- they would begin to blend together to a point of obscurity so sitting back and complaining about the pitch or the food would be pointless as the comparison is unfair. We do not as an airline control the weather, we do not control the delays affected by a terminal, we do not control the delays becuz sum dumbass decides he is going to try andbring on a 400lb pound suitcase full of nail clippers... Thats sh*t dont fit in the overhead bin PEOPLE!!! Delays are inevitable- grin and bear it- if yu are enroute to a holiday destination- just think, then than 22% of the population takes or can afford to trake a plan to travel to a holiday destination... yu are elitist in this fashion- enjoy ur flight and please put your seat and tray tables in the upright and locked position and enojoy the damn flight!!!

[aerosexual]

that was painful to read

[Niodatchi]

Hey Gethoweiwittit or whatever your avatar is! Please go back to school and learn how to write! Nio

[green bastard]

Tough read. As long as the old man (KR) is making cash life is good (now thanks to a lot of hard work ,ALPA/Teamsters). The moment things are not profitable, you can bank on KR closing out the shop, quick!

[CRJ-705]

current air transat has 13 a310's i believe, which they use for flights to europe and the caribbean. i cant see them using a 737 to cross the atlantic, plus it doesnt have the seating capacity that the a310 has. are they gonna get 13 new a330's or get 767's? anyone know