There is news today that Air Transat has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321LR, which the Canadian carrier will use on thinner routes to Europe, the Caribbean and Central, and South America.
Air Transat is the last western passenger operator of the Airbus A310, so this delivery marks the beginning of the end for the venerable Airbus widebody.
Who Are Air Transat?
Based in Montréal, Quebec in Canada, Air Transat is a vacation airline, offering scheduled and charter flights to holiday destinations. They operate a modern enough fleet, with the Airbus A330 being their long-haul aircraft of choice.
-
- Air Transat’s new livery on the Airbus A330
Air Transat has the dubious honour of holding the record for the longest non-powered flight and landing of a commercial airliner. That was due to a fuel leak on an Airbus A330 back in 2001, which you can read about here.
Air Transat and the Airbus A310
There are just six Airbus A310s remaining in the Air Transat fleet. These are mainly 27 years old and are scheduled to be retired later in 2020 once more Airbus A321LRs come online.
-
- Iran’s Mahan Air is the largest operator of the A310
Since the only other airlines operating the Airbus A310 in passenger service are in Iran and Yemen, the Canadian option seems to be the easiest all round.
Overall Thoughts
Some fans of aviation will make a point of flying on as many aircraft types as they can. With dwindling numbers, getting on board an Airbus A310 now would be a good idea.
I’ve had the pleasure of the Airbus A310, when I flew Royal Jordanian back in 2008. I quite enjoyed the flight, both for the airline, it’s great service and the aircraft itself.
Are you someone who would go out of their way to get on an A310 before it’s retired? Or do you think that’s utter madness? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
To never miss a post, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here so check them out!
Featured image by BriYYZ via Wikimedia Commons.
Air Transat new livery by Andrew H. Kline via Airways Magazine.
Mahan Air Airbus A310 by Lasse Fuss via Wikimedia Commons.
I live in New Hampshire and last summer, I figured that the end of the A310’s travel might be close so I booked a short hop on AirTransat from Montreal (YUL) to Quebec City (YQB) on a Friday evening. It took a little leg work on Flightaware.com to figure out a way to fly the A310 without a huge voyage and this certainly was perfect. I enjoyed every minute of the flight, even though it was on an older aircraft but as the author notes above, it is about flying on different types of planes. I wish I had flown… Read more »
Fantastic that you got to experience the A310, so well done for getting on board that flight. Glad you enjoyed the trip! I hear you on the MD-11 – my only flight was on board Finnair from Singapore to Bangkok to Helsinki and I thought that was excellent. Thanks for the comment!