Canada’s newest airline CEO has an historically challenging task. But as a recent profile in Flight GIobal points out - she may well be exactly the right person in the right place doing the right job.
In 2001, Annick Guerard was a senior consultant for Deloitte, and Transat was her client. As a civil engineer with a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Montreal, Guerard found herself spending two weeks shadowing Air Transat maintenance professionals inspecting and repairing aircraft in -35 Celcius weather in Montreal.
Less than a year later, Air Transat hired her as its senior director for strategy and customer experience, and two decades after that, she became the airline’s chief executive.
Guerard took the position in MAY this year as Air Transat faces two crises, either of which could have ended the 35-year-old airline.
The first was a global pandemic, while the second was the termination of an unprecedented deal with rival Air Canada that had been constructed to rescue Air Transat.
“It has been very tough these past few months,” she told Flight Global. “Sometimes we didn’t know if we would make it to the end of the day.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic in MAR 2020 through AUG 2021 when finally reopened its borders, Canada had some of the strictest and longest-running travel restrictions around the world. This came at a cost to Canada’s airlines including Air Transat, which was forced to shut down from 01APR through 23JUL 2020 and lay off workers.
The airline shut down once again FEB 2021 at the government’s request to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Air Transat reported an entire quarter without revenue in JUN on Guerard’s first earnings call as chief executive.
In addition to the pandemic, Air Transat spent much of two years attempting to close a deal with Air Canada to strengthen its brand. The deal was announced in 2019 and was expected to close by mid-2020 but was thrown off due to the pandemic. The Canadian government approved a new deal in FEB 2021, but was called off by the European Commission two months later citing competition concerns.
Following the two crises, the Canadian government gave CAD $700m to Air Transat in federal financial aid in APR 2021. Now, despite a continued pandemic and a $138m loss in Q3, Annick Guerard is leading Transat back into the air.
Transat restarted operations on 30JUL with its summer program of 24 routes to 16 destinations in Canada, the United States, the South and Europe. It has also increased its fall offerings, with more routes returning ahead of originally scheduled.
Part of the airline’s expansion is its fleet. According to Flight Global, Air Transat hopes to grow to 55 aircraft within five years.
“Fifty-five aircraft is still a small fleet… We don’t want to go back to where we were, with a complex and not-well-adapted fleet, which in the past caused us many efficiency and utilisation problems,” Guerard commented.
Even then, Guerard is looking at more. “We want to offer more destinations and options to our clients. So we are looking at partners to do that, and alliances are a key part of our network development strategy,” she said. While Guerard did not name any specific partners, she revealed that both North American and European airlines are set to partner with Transat.
“We have a strong asset to offer to potential partners [and are] looking to increase our footprint between America and Europe and sun destinations. So, our approach right now is to start with simple bilateral agreements, which will give us some quick wins,” she says.
“And these partnerships may evolve into something more important and strategic in the near future.”
In terms of her promotion to Chief Executive, Guerard said she was well prepared for the transition after spending more than three years as the company’s chief operations officer alongside now-retired former chief and Transat co-founder Jean-Marc Eustache. During her time as COO, Flight Global notes that Guerard led the fleet modernisation plan, digital and IT upgrades and revenue- and cost-management improvement efforts.
Despite the ups and downs of the last 18 months, Guerard says that she is resolved to lead the carrier out of the pandemic as a stronger and more focused airline.
“We have always excelled in adversity. We are fighters, and we have gone to war together,” Guerard says of the company.
The airline has seen some wins recently. Air Transat was named “Best Leisure Airline” at the Skytrax World Airline Awards this month
