Press release -
Take off for Scotland's first ever flight to Quebec
Air Transat, the Canadian award-winning leisure airline, launches Scotland’s newest route this bank holiday weekend with a service from Glasgow Airport to Montreal (Pierre Trudeau Airport).
The new weekly flight, which commences on Monday 30th May and runs until 2nd October, connects the province of Quebec to Scotland for the first time.
Return Economy Class fares from Glasgow to Montreal start from just £300 per person.
Montreal is Canada’s second largest city with a population of just over 3.5 million people. Its French Canadian culture makes it one of the liveliest cities in Canada, combining old-world charm with contemporary North American energy to create a unique atmosphere.
The new flight starts just in time to connect Scottish travellers with the Montreal Grand Prix (10th – 12th June), Montreal International Jazz Festival (29th June- 9th July) and “Just for Laughs” Comedy Festival (13th - 31st July) along with a host of excellent visitor attractions in the city itself.
A trip to Montreal also provides an excellent opportunity to visit the whole province not least the provincial capital, historic Quebec City.
Lesley Kane, Air Transat’s UK & Ireland Sales Director, said:
“This is an exciting link for Air Transat as we establish the first ever air link between Scotland and Quebec. Montreal is home to Air Transat and to connect directly to our founding city is an excellent opportunity for developing new leisure tourism opportunities.
“Scotland and Quebec have deep historic links. Indeed, the first British Governor of Quebec was a Scot, James Murray and McGill University founded from the estate of James McGill - a merchant and politician who emigrated from Glasgow.”
To celebrate the new service, Air Transat and Glasgow Airport have teamed up to offer passengers travelling on the first flight some traditional Quebecois dishes such as poutine and BeaverTails, Canadian Club cocktails, accompanied by a tribute band for Celine Dion – Quebec’s best-known singer.
Francois Bourienne, Commercial Director at Glasgow Airport, said:
“The addition of Montreal to Glasgow Airport's line up of Canadian destinations re-affirms the airport as Scotland's leading long haul gateway. We are especially proud that this is the first time Scotland will have had a direct link to Canada's second largest city - Montreal.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive at VisitScotland said:
“This exciting new Air Transat service from Montreal to Glasgow will give visitors from across Quebec the fantastic opportunity to fly directly to Scotland.
“Scotland is more connected than ever before through transport and digital channels - giving it a louder voice within key markets - and this new route will further strengthen its international reach in North America.
“With 4.7 million Canadians having Scottish ancestry, including around 100,000 in the Montreal area, this new service unlocks the potential for many more visitors with Scots links to discover the Spirit of Scotland in their ancestral home.”
Minister for Transport and the Islands Humza Yousaf said:
“I’m delighted to see this exciting new service between Glasgow and Montreal take off, helping to strengthen the important cultural and historic bonds between Scotland and Canada.
“It will help Scottish businesses by improving their access to international markets and it will also boost our tourism industry by making it even easier for travellers from Canada to get a taste of the fantastic visitor experiences on offer in Scotland.
“I wish Glasgow Airport and Air Transat every success with this new service.”
Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said:
“We’re looking forward to welcoming the arrival of Air Transat’s inaugural flight, which will encourage visitors from Montréal and across Quebec to fly directly to Glasgow; representing a historic first for the city and Scotland.
“More than 40,000 Canadian tourists already visit Glasgow every year, boosting our economy by some £14 million. Canada is our fifth largest international market and there will undoubtedly be strong demand for this service, which has the potential to deliver considerable inbound leisure and business tourism as well as presenting us with the opportunity to increase French Canadian visitors to the city.
“This is another great example of Glasgow’s efforts to continually grow its air links and connect the city to the global marketplace.”
Air Transat is offering a choice of three routes from Glasgow this summer. In addition to the new service to Montreal, Scottish passengers have a choice of five weekly flights from Glasgow to Toronto, along with a weekly direct service to Vancouver.
Further connections in Canada are on offer to Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary through Air Transat’s connecting flights program via Toronto and Vancouver, providing more flexibility on holiday durations.
For information and reservations, call 00 800 872 672 83 or visit www.airtransat.co.uk
- ENDS -
Further information:
Charlie Hampton / Claire Lowe / Laura Apps
Air Transat Press Office
Bell Pottinger Corporate & Brand
Telephone: 020 3772 2519
E-mail: champton@bellpottinger.com
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- montreal
- international marketing
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016 - 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins on 1 January 2016 and ends on 31 December 2016 and will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
- Events can join the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design Partner Programme throughout the year by visiting http://www.eventscotland.org/YIAD_partner_programme
About Air Transat
Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some three million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in 30 countries aboard its fleet of Boeing narrow-body and Airbus wide-body jets. The company employs approximately 2,000 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 July 2015, and in April 2015 won two Mercure Awards for Large Business of the Year and Sustainable Development. Air Transat was recently ranked among the 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada this year – the first Canadian tour operator to be included in the select club.Air Transat was named one of the best long-haul economy flight carriers by Which? Travel in its January 2016 Airline Survey report, and the leading airline to Canada, beating other long-haul airlines. Air Transat was judged on the quality of a variety of provisions, including punctuality (91%), boarding and value for money – which both received a four out of five star-rating.
