Montreal, December 7, 2015 — In the wake of the Paris Climate Conference, German NGO Atmosfair published its Airline Index for a fifth consecutive year, in which Air Transat ranked among the world’s 10 best performing airlines, like last year, as regards fuel efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The only North American airline in Atmosfair’s top 10, Air Transat ranks fifth in the world in the long-haul category and ninth in all categories of this annual index, which evaluates the environmental performance of close to 200 airlines.
“We are extremely proud of these results that place us among the most climate-friendly airlines,” declares Jean-François Lemay, General Manager, Air Transat. “They confirm the effectiveness of the environmental measures we are putting in place, and encourage us to keep up our efforts to reduce fuel consumption. Our fuel management program, which is one of the best in the industry, has brought about an annual 5% decrease in consumption since 2003, and we feel we can decrease it by another 1%.”
The Atmosfair Airline Index helps travellers choose airlines based on their CO2 emission levels. The companies that stand out are those that strive to reduce their emissions, especially by reducing their fuel consumption, using modern fleets adapted to their routes and maximizing airplane loads.
For the past several years, Air Transat has stood out for its initiatives aimed at reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. These measures mostly include the implementation of reliable fuel management technology, aircraft weight reduction, optimization of flight plans and ground operations, progressive installation of innovative winglets (Split Scimitar Winglets) on Boeing 737 aircraft, and a fleet with a greater proportion of more energy-efficient Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft.
About Air Transat
Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some 3 million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in 30 countries aboard its fleet of Boeing narrow-body and Airbus wide-body jets. The company employs more than 2,500 people. Air Transat is a business unit of Transat A.T. Inc., an integrated international tour operator with more than 60 destination countries and that distributes products in over 50 countries. Air Transat was named Best North American Leisure Airline at the Skytrax annual World Airline Awards, held in June 2015.
Debbie Cabana, Marketing Director, Social Media and Public Relations, Transat Tours Canada Inc. - T 514-987-1616, 4662 - Debbie.Cabana@transat.com