Winter is Coming: Sebastian Ponce & Renée Boisvert on Transat’s diversified winter strategy

Winter Is Coming is a special PAX series that offers a glimpse into the war rooms of Canada’s leading travel companies as the winter booking season takes flight. Stay tuned for exclusive interviews with industry leaders as PAX unpacks what’s new and next this season.

For Transat, winter 2026-27 is shaping up to be a season of diversification.

The company is broadening its network, adding more regional departures and leaning further into partnerships as it adjusts to a winter without Cuba and changing traveller booking behaviour.

For our annual Winter is Coming series, PAX caught up with Sebastian Ponce, chief revenue officer at Transat, and Renée Boisvert, president of TDC and vice-president, tour operator products and sales at Transat, to discuss the company’s winter strategy, what’s selling and how travel advisors should be approaching the season.

A more diversified winter network

Air Transat is taking a measured approach to growth this winter, said Ponce, adjusting capacity in response to demand.

“We are optimizing the schedule more than just changing the size of our network overall,” Ponce said. “We have a disciplined approach where we adjust capacity to demand rather than pursuing growth for its own sake.”

He said some of the strongest areas of development include Spain, Turkey, Senegal and Brazil.

Regional gateways are getting more attention too, with new weekly service from Charlottetown to Punta Cana beginning Dec. 16 and Windsor to Cancún launching Dec. 19. 

Boisvert said much of the new product reflects feedback from travel advisors.

“We have customers that are looking for a different journey, off-the-beaten path,” she said.

While many travellers still want an all-inclusive, she said others are looking to destinations such as Morocco, Turkey and Senegal.

“We not only provide them with a direct flight, but we also provide them with packages and coach tours to help them discover these different destinations,” Boisvert said.

Filling the Cuba gap

One of the biggest changes this winter is the absence of Cuba.

Boisvert said the destination previously represented roughly six per cent of Transat’s overall capacity.

Transat, like many companies, removed Cuba from its winter program in June, suspending service indefinitely.

That has forced the company to think about where those customers might go instead.

“We made sure that we chose the packages and destinations that could align with what the Cuba consumer might be looking [for] in terms of price point,” Boisvert said.

She pointed to Puerto Plata and Samaná in the Dominican Republic, as well as Panama and Cartagena, Colombia, as possible alternatives.

At the same time, Transat is broadening its winter sun offering more generally. 

New options include Aruba and Barbados, as well as Los Cabos, Mexico. Las Palmas in the Canary Islands adds another warm-weather option outside the traditional Caribbean circuit. 

“We have many other destinations down south where our consumers could go and experience a nice vacation, even though they cannot go to Cuba for next winter,” Boisvert said.

Bookings hold steady as Spain gains ground

Ponce described the overall winter booking picture as encouraging.

“Our load factors are as good as they were last year at the same time,” he said. 

Booking behaviour, however, is changing. According to feedback Boisvert is hearing from travel advisors, consumers are waiting somewhat longer to commit to bookings amid geopolitical uncertainty.

“They’re a little bit more last minute than they used to be,” she said.

Spain is a particular bright spot. “We are very bullish about Spain,” Ponce said.

Air Transat will serve five Spanish destinations this winter, four of them year-round. 

Málaga and Madrid already operate throughout the year, Montreal–Barcelona becomes year-round Oct. 27 and Valencia is now also offered year-round.  

The fifth, Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, is new for winter 2026-27, with weekly flights from Montreal and Toronto beginning Dec. 12 and 13, respectively.

“We’re really seeing the willingness of travellers to go there,” he said.

Partnerships extend Transat’s reach

Partnerships are also becoming an increasingly important part of Transat’s strategy. 

Over the past year, Air Transat has added or expanded agreements with Turkish Airlines, GOL Airlines and Iberia, extending its reach into Asia, the Middle East, South America and deeper into Spain. 

Its partnership with Porter Airlines has also expanded: Transat has announced vacation packages featuring Porter-operated flights for travel beginning Nov. 1.

Ponce said passengers connecting from Porter now represent more than seven per cent of Air Transat’s transatlantic traffic.

“That’s a big amount of passengers that are connected with Porter,” he said, adding that traffic is up more than 30 per cent year over year. 

Ponce said the focus now is on improving connectivity and the customer experience as the partnership continues to grow.

What advisors should know

There is also more coming specifically for the trade.

Boisvert said Transat plans to soon officially launch its loyalty program after introducing it as a primarily consumer-facing beta program in June.

The full launch will include a B2B component for travel advisors.

For Boisvert, Transat’s growing range of destinations also creates an opportunity for advisors to move conversations away from price alone.

“Focus less on pricing and more on trying to get the right experience to the right client,” she suggested. 

She encouraged advisors to stay on top of new products through Transat’s conferences, webinars and commercial team. 

“Information is key, especially now,” Boisvert said. 

Her advice is to know the options well enough to suggest something clients might not think to search for themselves.

“That’s where the travel advisor has more value, is to go beyond what technology can provide.”

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