Air Transat

Is Air Transat safe?

Yes. Air Transat, Canada's main leisure airline, has never had a fatal accident, and no aircraft has been written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in the last 20 years. We score it 86, between WestJet at 88 and Air Canada at 84. It loses points for an older A330 fleet and a run of ground collisions and rough landings, none of which hurt anyone.

Air Transat flies from Montreal, Toronto and other Canadian cities to Europe in summer and to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America in winter. That mix of long-haul and sun flying matters for its record. Many of its winter destinations have fewer navigation aids and less consistent air traffic services than Canadian or European hubs.

The glide to the Azores

The flight Air Transat is remembered for is flight 236 on 24 August 2001. The Airbus A330, with 306 people on board, was crossing the Atlantic at 39,000 feet when the crew noticed a fuel imbalance. A fuel line on the right engine had cracked, because a mechanic had fitted a hydraulic pump and fuel tube that did not match the older-standard hydraulic tube during an engine change. The two lines rubbed together until the fuel line failed.

The crew did not recognise the leak at first. They followed the fuel imbalance procedure from memory and fed fuel from the left tanks to the right side, straight into the leak. The right engine stopped 135 miles from Lajes in the Azores, then the left engine about 85 miles out. The captain glided the aircraft to the airport and landed it, bursting eight of the ten tyres. Everyone survived.

The Portuguese investigators listed failures in the maintenance planning and in the crew's diagnosis: the key factor, they said, was that the crew never ran the fuel leak procedure. Just weeks before, on 6 July 2001, an Air Transat TriStar flew into a hailstorm after take-off from Lyon, which badly damaged the cockpit windshield and the airframe. The co-pilot, who could see best, landed it back at Lyon, and the aircraft was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. The French investigators found the storm cell had looked harmless on the weather radar. These two months remain the worst in the airline's record.

Recent incidents

Since 2023, the most visible problems have been on the ground:

• 13 April 2023, Miami: an A330 taxiing to the gate after a flight from Toronto clipped the aileron of a parked Emirates 777 with its left wingtip. The winglet broke off. Nobody was hurt.
• 11 September 2024, Paris-Charles de Gaulle: an A330 from Montreal hit the tail of a Corsair A330neo with its left winglet while both were holding after landing. The French investigators (BEA) took the case.
• 3 June 2026, London Gatwick: an A321 from Toronto landed hard on runway 26L in rain. The aircraft stayed on the ground for over two weeks and the UK AAIB opened an investigation.

In September 2018, an A310 from Montreal to Barcelona met severe clear-air turbulence over the Atlantic with the seat belt sign off; one passenger was seriously hurt and four other people slightly. Transat no longer lists the A310 in its fleet.

The fleet and the engine groundings

At the end of July 2026, Air Transat flew 15 A330s, 19 A321LRs and 7 older A321ceos, all Airbus fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary jets, according to its quarterly report. Four A321LRs were on the ground because of the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine problem that has grounded A320neo-family jets at many airlines. Engines have to come off early for inspections, and spare engines are scarce. Transat expects fewer grounded aircraft in 2026, which it says will let it add capacity.

The A330s are the older part of the fleet, and the next new aircraft are four leased A321XLRs due in 2027 and 2028. Transat does not publish an average fleet age, which is why our confidence is medium.

Flying Air Transat: what to check

• Long-haul in a narrowbody. Many transatlantic flights now use A321LRs. They are as safe as a widebody; expect a narrower cabin and more noticeable turbulence.
• Sun destinations. Airports in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Central America are well used by Canadian charters, but expect more delays and diversions in tropical storms. Check the hurricane season forecast for late summer and autumn trips.
• Keep your belt fastened when seated. The 2018 turbulence injuries happened with the sign off.

How we scored it

The accident record (94) and Transport Canada oversight (90) carry the score. The fleet (74), the 2023 to 2026 incidents (76) and a network with many sun airports (82) explain why Air Transat sits just below WestJet.