Transat: Airline Bailout Talks With Trudeau Government In Their “Advance Stages”
April 6, 2021 Jim Byers
Air Transat says talks between the Canadian airline industry and the Justin Trudeau government are in their “advance stages.”
Transat spokesman Christophe Hennebelle told the Toronto Star that talks are “in their advance stages, both for relief and for sectoral aid.”
Reached by Canadian Travel News, Hennebelle said he had no reason to expect that was true just for Air Transat.
“I would know only for Transat, but I have no reason to think that talks are progressing only for us,” he said.
Union leader Jerry Dias, who heads up the powerful Unifor group, said a couple weeks ago that he thought an agreement would come any time. Dias has said that a financial package for Canada’s bloodied airline industry could be worth more than $7 billion.
Airline officials have suggested the assistance likely will come in the form of low-interest loans.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said on his Twitter feed last week that the Trudeau government is engaged in “active discussions” with the airline industry.
Ottawa has said any assistance package will come with conditions, including refunds for customers who had flights cancelled due to COVID-19 and restoration of cancelled air routes in Canada.
The airlines have said they have no problem with either issue.
Transat and Air Canada last Friday called off a deal that would’ve seen the two companies combine into one carrier. Both sides said the European Commission, which was worried that a combined airline would dominate the Canada-Europe market, was making demands that made a deal impossible.
That clears the way for another bidder to jump into the Transat fray. Quebecor Inc. President and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau has previously offered to buy Transat and repeated his interest on Friday.
Hennebelle said there haven’t been any talks with Peladeau in the past few weeks.
“We will now have whatever contacts are necessary to consider all our options,” he said. “I will not elaborate any further at this stage.”
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