Air Transat trends 2024-2025: opportunities for Quebec SMEs

Between the evolution of leisure demand, the reorientation of destinations and the digital transformation of the sector, Air Transat remains a key player in travel for Quebecers. For SMEs, these 2024-2025 trends are not just news: they represent concrete opportunities in marketing, partnerships and online sales. While air fares in Canada have fallen in 2025, 40% of Canadian SMEs are already planning to increase their business travel budgets compared to the previous year, and domestic and international bookings have risen by 6% in the first quarter of 2025. (retail-insider.com) At the same time, Air Transat’s leisure clientele remains very strong, to the extent that the carrier has planned a capacity increase of almost 25% in 2024 to meet demand, with a fleet set to grow from 35 to 40 aircraft in the winter season. (toronto.citynews.ca)

For Quebec SMEs, this travel dynamic – combined with a generalization of online searches and bookings – opens the door to new strategies: targeting travelers, packaged offers with Air Transat flights, optimizing tourism e-commerce sites and integrating AI into customer relations. In this article, we analyze the main trends surrounding Air Transat and Quebec travel in 2024-2025, and present concrete avenues for transforming these changes into growth for your business, whether you’re in tourism, hospitality, B2B services or online sales.

1. Travel context 2024-2025: a leisure market that is still strong, but changing

To understand Air Transat’s opportunities for Quebec SMEs, we first need to look at the global travel context. Despite inflation and trade tensions, a national YouGov survey conducted for Corporate Traveller Canada shows that 42% of Canadian SMEs plan to increase their travel budgets in 2025, and that domestic and international business bookings were up 6% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2024. (retail-insider.com) In other words, travel is still seen as an essential lever for business development and customer proximity.

On the leisure side, Canadian customers remain very keen on travel. At Transat A.T. (Air Transat’s parent company), demand for leisure travel has been robust enough to justify a capacity increase of almost 25% in 2024, with the fleet set to reach 40 aircraft in winter, up from 35 the previous year. (toronto.citynews.ca) Average ticket prices to Europe had already risen by more than 20% between 2019 and 2023, a sign of a willingness to pay more for sought-after transatlantic destinations.

At the same time, Quebecers’ travel intentions remain high. According to CAA-Quebec, 44% of its members plan to leave the province for personal vacations in 2025, and nearly a quarter plan to travel twice rather than once in the course of the year. The most popular destinations are the United States (39% of respondents), followed by Mexico and the Caribbean (36%) and Europe (35%). (caaquebec.com) These figures confirm the central role played by leisure carriers like Air Transat in the international mobility of Quebecers.

For SMEs, this means :

• A high volume of travelers, both leisure and business, to be targeted with segmented offers (stays, services, complementary products).
• Acceptance of rate increases in certain segments (Europe, sun), opening the door to upgrades, premium services and higher value-added experiences.
• A pronounced seasonality (winter for sun destinations, summer for Europe) to exploit in your digital campaigns and promotions via a well-structured site, ideally designed with a conversion-oriented approach like that of Nuaweb in website creation.

Quebec SMEs that align their marketing calendar with Air Transat and other carriers’ booking peaks will maximize their visibility at the exact moment when travelers are planning and buying.

2. Reorienting destinations: from the South to the transatlantic, a playground for targeted offers

Recent surveys show an interesting evolution in Quebecers’ preferred destinations. CAA-Quebec’s 2025 summer survey shows that just 4% of respondents plan to visit the U.S. in the summer, down 8 points on 2024, while 16% plan to visit other Canadian provinces and 4% want to head to Mexico and the Caribbean despite the hot season. (caaquebec.com) This partial reorientation of tourist flows logically stimulates flights to the tropics out of high season, and international destinations served by leisure carriers like Air Transat.

Across Canada, a travel media report predicts an average spend of C$3,850 per person on international travel by 2025, up 14% in one year. 89% of Canadian travelers use digital resources to prepare their trips, and 84% draw inspiration from social media (led by Instagram) to choose their destinations. (masscomglobal.com) For a Quebec SME, this means two things:

• unit expenditure per customer is increasing, which makes partnerships with leisure airlines and forfeiters relevant;
• the battle is waged online: website, SEO, social campaigns, CRM automation and booking tunnels all need to be optimized.

Air Transat is positioned as a global leisure carrier, with a strong network in Europe, the Caribbean and the South. Its 2024 results, however, show pressure on profitability (quarterly revenues down slightly by 1.4% and negative net income), prompting the group to deploy an optimization plan and focus on the most buoyant routes. (transat.com) For SMEs, this refocusing means :

• Clearer travel corridors (Canada-Europe, Canada-Mexico/Caribbean) on which to build offers with strong destination + service coherence.
• Co-marketing opportunities with tour operators, hoteliers and attractions on these routes, via campaigns targeting Air Transat flight customers.
• Increased importance of differentiation: if Air Transat reduces or reorganizes certain less profitable markets, your SME can position itself very clearly in those that remain a priority (e.g. specialized tours, gourmet experiences, responsible tourism).

This relative repositioning of flows paves the way for more thematic experiences: stays focusing on gastronomy, eco-responsible tours, wellness retreats, hybrid business tourism (combining meetings and leisure). To take advantage of this, your digital visibility needs to be aligned with key queries (destination + type of experience), which requires a structured SEO strategy and a site designed for discovery and conversion, in collaboration with a specialized agency like Nuaweb.

3. Digital, AI and CRM: turning Air Transat trends into recurring sales.

Travel is now a very digital journey. According to 2025 data on Canada’s travel advertising market, 89% of travelers use digital technology to plan their trips, 84% draw inspiration from social networks, and 92% of Canadians have adopted online banking, which simplifies remote reservations and purchases. (masscomglobal.com) In this context, Air Transat passengers – leisure and business – are also your prospects, provided your digital ecosystem is structured.

Three pillars are essential for Quebec SMEs:

• A high-performance website: fast, mobile-first, well-structured for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and integrated with your tools (reservation, payment, newsletter). A website for a tourist destination, hotel, activity or even physical travel-related products needs to be designed from the outset to capture this traveler traffic. This is precisely the type of support Nuaweb offers in website creation.
• A CRM adapted to travel cycles: planning a trip often begins 3 to 9 months before departure, with several points of contact (research, comparison, booking, preparation). A good CRM management tool makes it possible to track these stages, intelligently follow-up and propose complementary offers (insurance, activities, upgrades, destination-related products).
• AI and chatbots: travelers ask the same questions thousands of times (luggage, check-in, weather, refund policy, etc.). Virtual assistants and chatbots, like those developed by Nuaweb, automate some of these 24/7 exchanges and improve the customer experience without weighing down your teams.

Air Transat trends reinforce the need for digital maturity:

• Increased capacity to some destinations and adjustments to others: your campaigns need to be dynamic, with landing pages updated according to the most popular routes.
• Customers aged 55 and over, particularly active in premium leisure travel at Transat, with a strong interest in responsible tourism. (toronto.citynews.ca) Your CRM must be able to segment these profiles and adapt the message (safety, comfort, environmental impact, added value).
• In B2B, the 40% increase in companies increasing their business travel budgets by 2025 creates a pool of corporate customers to retain through structured programs and adapted sales tunnels. (retail-insider.com)

In concrete terms, a Québec SME can :

• Set up a complete marketing funnel: organic traffic + paid campaigns targeting Air Transat travelers (by destination / period) → dedicated landing pages → lead capture → automated email sequences.
• Connect your e-commerce or reservation site to a CRM to track travel history and propose personalized offers for each new season.
• Integrate an AI chatbot to answer frequently asked questions, recommend products or packages based on your chosen Air Transat destination, and generate reservations directly in your system.

With a partner like Nuaweb (AI, chatbots, automation), these technological building blocks become accessible even to small structures without an in-house IT team.

4. E-commerce and package deals: turning Air Transat travelers into loyal customers

The final link – often under-exploited by SMEs – is the ability to effectively monetize this flow of travelers. With the average international budget rising to CA$3,850 per person by 2025, and a 17% increase in premium and business class bookings from Canada, (masscomglobal.com) the potential for a high average basket is very real. It’s no longer just a matter of selling a room or an activity, but of building packaged offers and a memory experience that justify this level of spending.

For Quebec SMEs, there are several levers to consider:

• A travel-oriented online boutique (e-commerce ): sale of activities, passes, physical products linked to the destination (guides, equipment, local products, gift cards), additional services (transfers, concierge services). Awell-thought-out e-commerce solution makes it possible to capitalize on the organic traffic generated around Air Transat destinations.
• Targeted partnerships: hotels, restaurants, ground transportation, attractions, events. Air Transat passengers can be offered your services via co-branded campaigns, dedicated promotional codes or combined offers.
• Pre- and post-trip offers: preparing for the trip (purchase of products or services before departure) and extending the experience on return (loyalty programs, inspiring content, “come back and see us” offers).

Consumer statistics also show that companies are becoming more strategic in their management of travel spend: 84% of Canadian SMEs have reviewed the way they invest their travel budget over the last 12 months, favouring more economical options, better planning and the use of technological tools to track costs. (retail-insider.com) Suppliers able to clearly demonstrate the value, transparency and efficiency of their services (via a clear site, comparison charts, testimonials, verified reviews) will have a distinct advantage.

To convert Air Transat passengers into repeat customers for your small business, you can :

• Develop a loyalty program linked to stays, with points, rewards or privileges for returning travellers, particularly on the same corridors served by Air Transat.
• Set up automated follow-up sequences after return: request for feedback, suggestions for additional destinations, special offers for the following season.
• Use your CRM data to build precise segments (families, 55+, mobile teleworkers, SME customers) and adapt your value proposition.

By combining a high-performance site, a well-configured CRM, robust e-commerce tools and conversational AI, you’ll transform Air Transat’s major trends into an acquisition and loyalty ecosystem perfectly adapted to the realities of Quebec SMEs.

Conclusion: benefit from Air Transat’s new dynamics with a solid digital ecosystem

Air Transat trends for 2024-2025 are part of a broader trend: rising travel budgets for some households and businesses, strong digitalization of the customer journey, refocusing on profitable corridors (Europe, sunshine, international destinations) and the rise of a customer base willing to pay more for better-designed experiences. For Quebec SMEs, this context is an opportunity to be seized – provided they have the right digital tools and a strategy aligned with these traveler flows.

Whether you are an independent hotel, a travel agency, a tourist attraction, an online retailer or a B2B service company, you can turn Air Transat passengers into loyal customers by working simultaneously on :

• visibility (SEO, content, targeted campaigns by destination and season) ;
• conversion (optimized website, e-commerce, clear booking tunnels) ;
• the relationship (CRM, automation, AI and chatbots for seamless customer service).

Would you like to quickly assess your SME’s potential in the face of these new travel dynamics? Schedule a free consultation with the Nuaweb team today. Together, we’ll analyze your opportunities related to Air Transat trends, strengthen your digital presence and build a sustainable system for acquiring and retaining travelers.

Contact Nuaweb today to turn these 2024-2025 trends into concrete results for your business.