Transat A.T.

Transat A.T. Inc.
Type	Public (TSX: TRZ.A, TRZ.B)
Industry	Tour operator
Founded	Montreal, Quebec (1987)
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people	Jean-Marc Eustache - President and Chief Executive Officer
Products	Outgoing tour operating, Incoming tour operating and destination services, retail distribution, air transportation, and hotels
Revenue	$3.5 billion CAD for Fiscal 2009
Employees	6,500(2010)
Website	www.transat.com

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The headquarters of Transat A.T. Inc.

Transat A.T. Inc. (TSX: TRZ.A, TRZ.B) is an international, vertically-integrated tour operator with nearly 20 business units in 8 countries. The company is headquartered in Montreal.^[2]

[edit] History

Transat was founded in the early 1980s by Jean-Marc Eustache, Lina De Cesare and Philippe Sureau. Originally called Trafic Voyages, was a wholesaler specializing in travel from Quebec to France.

In the late 80s, the company, which was then renamed Transat, was listed on the stock exchange through an IPO that generated $8.25 million. The company used the proceeds to establish its own airline, Air Transat, and to embark into a series of acquisitions in order to solidify its position as an outgoing tour operator in Canada and France, as well as to develop new destination markets.

In 1988, Transat considerably expanded its presence in retail distribution with the acquisition of an interest in the franchisor Consultour.

The Company had broken into the French market very early on with Vacances Transat (France), the largest tour operator offering travel to Canada, and soon expanded within France, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. It acquired French tour operator Look Voyages in 1996, Greek incoming tour operator Tourgreece in 2001, British tour operator Canadian Affair in 2006 and French tour operator Amplitude Internationale (today Amplitravel), which specializes in travel to Tunisia, in 2007. At its destinations, the Company opened offices in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Florida in order to be able to provide its customers with complementary services. In 2007, Transat created a five-hotel, a 1,600-room joint venture with the major Spanish chain H10 Hotels in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. In 2010, Transat became an outgoing tour operator in Mexico, when it founded Eleva Travel.

In Canada, Transat now has nearly 500 travel agencies and is the largest travel agency network since the acquisition of the Thomas Cook agencies in 2006. Brands include Club Voyages, Voyages en Liberté, Marlin Travel, TravelPlus and tripcentral.ca.

With thousands of tourism service providers in some 60 countries (including about 50 airlines and 1,500 hotels) and more than 6,500 employees catering to the approximately 3 million people who travel every year, Transat is now one of the leaders in the international tourism industry. ^[3]

[edit] Operating divisions

Air transportation
- Air Transat
- Handlex - ground and airport services for Air Transat and some 20 other Canadian airlines - formerly Haycot and acquired in part (49%) in 1988 and fully in march 2000