Flight TS8503 has left Amman and is now en route
Air Transat is the first airline company to carry Syrian refugees to Montreal

MONTREAL, Dec. 23, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Transat Flight TS8503 has left Amman, Jordan, today at 1:15 pm (local), bound for Montreal, with 304 Syrian refugees aboard. "We are very pleased to be the first airline company to engage in this major humanitarian effort, and to be assisting the Canadian government and international authorities in this way," said Jean-François Lemay, General Manager of Air Transat. This is the first Syrian refugee flight to Montreal operated by an airline company.

The operation is being led by the International Organization for Migration, in collaboration with Canadian authorities. The flight, operated with an Airbus A330, is expected to arrive in Montreal at 6:30 pm.

Air Transat operated two flights from Amman to Toronto on December 20 and 21.

About Air Transat
Air Transat is Canada's leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some 3 million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in 30 countries aboard its fleet of Boeing narrow-body and Airbus wide-body jets. The company employs more than 2,500 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 June 2015.

About Transat
Transat A.T. Inc. is an integrated international tour operator with more than 60 destination countries and that distributes products in over 50 countries. A holiday travel specialist, Transat operates mainly in Canada and Europe, as well as in the Caribbean, Mexico and the Mediterranean Basin. Montreal-based Transat is also active in air transportation, destination services, accommodation and distribution.

SOURCE Transat A.T. Inc.

Image with caption: "Air Transat Flight TS8503 landed in Montreal early in the evening of December 23, arriving from Amman, Jordan, with 304 Syrian refugees aboard. This is the first flight operated to Montreal by an airline company as part of a major operation to bring some 25,000 refugees to Canada at the initiative of the Canadian government. “We are very pleased to be assisting the Canadian government and international authorities,” said Jean-François Lemay, General Manager of Air Transat. (CNW Group/Transat A.T. Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20151223_C1560_PHOTO_EN_589322.jpg

Image with caption: "Air Transat Flight TS8503 landed in Montreal early in the evening of December 23, arriving from Amman, Jordan, with 304 Syrian refugees aboard. This is the first flight operated to Montreal by an airline company as part of a major operation to bring some 25,000 refugees to Canada at the initiative of the Canadian government. “We are very pleased to be assisting the Canadian government and international authorities,” said Jean-François Lemay, General Manager of Air Transat. (CNW Group/Transat A.T. Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20151223_C1560_PHOTO_EN_589324.jpg