Air Transat’s headquarters, a three-storey office building with an area of approximately 60,000 square feet, has just been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum certification in the category “Existing Buildings.” Located within the Montréal–Trudeau airport site, the building, erected in 2004, is the first in its category in Canada to obtain this certification, awarded for compliance with the most stringent sustainability criteria for green buildings.

“We are exceedingly proud to have obtained this certification, because it recognizes the many efforts we have made to improve our environmental performance,” said Allen B. Graham, President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transat. “These efforts have included reducing our energy consumption by 10% and our water use by 40% over the past few years. We have also implemented a waste management system that emphasizes composting as well as recycling of metal, glass, plastic and paper. Moreover, our adoption of a green procurements policy has prompted suppliers to offer a wider range of more environmentally friendly products. This certification is the result of painstaking teamwork and is an incentive for us all to continue in the same direction.”

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a stringent standardization system for environmentally friendly buildings. LEED uses a points system for evaluating a building’s environmental performance in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials & resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation & design process.

“Air Transat is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve its environmental performance in all of the company’s areas of activity, from in-flight services to its administrative offices,” Mr. Graham noted.

Air Transat’s head office, where some 200 people work every day, is located at 5959 Côte Vertu Boulevard in Montreal. Air Transat made a commitment to reducing its green footprint with the adoption of an environmental policy in 2007. The securing of LEED certification is part of the process of applying that policy. The building also serves as the headquarters of Handlex, Transat’s business unit that provides airport ground-handling services.

Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. It carries some 3 million passengers annually to nearly 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transat has a fleet of Airbus A330s and A310s. 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.