MONTREAL, Sept. 24, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Transat, named the World's Best Leisure Airline at the 2018 Skytrax World Airline Awards, is set to offer passengers a new product combining air and rail travel, in partnership with SNCF, France's national rail service. The airline's customers will be able to purchase a single ticket comprising a flight to Paris plus TGV AIR service enabling them to complete their journey on the TGV high-speed rail network within France or to Brussels, Belgium.

Air Transat and SNCF promise a simple service delivering several benefits: a single booking, a single fare and a single ticket. It will be available as of January 2019, and travellers will be able to book from Canada starting in December.

"We are the leading air carrier connecting Canada and France in summer, with our direct flights to eight French cities," says Annick Guérard, Chief Operating Officer, Transat. "With TGV AIR, we want to make life easier for travellers and broaden their horizons year-round, making it easy for families, friends and holidayers to get where they want to go in France or Belgium, experiencing new destinations and reaching them faster. We are pleased to be the first airline in mainland North America to offer this service in partnership with SNCF. TGV AIR is the perfect complement to our range of direct flights to France and Belgium," she adds.

Rémi Habfast, Voyages SNCF's Commercial Director for TGV NORD, says: "With this new TGV AIR partnership with Air Transat, we are making high-speed rail service departing from and arriving at Paris–Charles de Gaulle station available to even more customers. SNCF is known all over the world for its TGV, its reliability and its quality service. This agreement also strengthens SNCF's presence and visibility outside France."

From the Paris-CDG 2 TGV station at Paris–Charles de Gaulle airport, served by Air Transat's direct flights out of Montreal (daily), Quebec City, Toronto and Vancouver, TGV AIR service will connect passengers with 19 cities in France as well as Brussels. Depending on their departure date, travellers will be able to enjoy TGV AIR service year-round or take advantage of the carrier's direct flights to and from France and Belgium.

Christophe Pouille, head of the TGV AIR product at Voyages SNCF, is delighted that "Air Transat passengers flying from Canada will now benefit from direct access to the TGV AIR network with a single ticket combining air and train travel. This partnership will provide yet more ways for travellers to reach their final destination, and ensure that international customers can explore France's many regions."

About Air Transat
Air Transat is Canada's number one holiday travel airline. It flies to some 60 destinations in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, offers domestic and feeder flights within Canada, and carries nearly 4.5 million passengers every year. Based in Montreal, the company employs 3,000 people. Air Transat is a business unit of Transat A.T. Inc., a leading integrated international tourism company specializing in holiday travel and offering vacation packages, hotel stays and air travel. Transat was awarded Travelife Partner status in 2016 in recognition of its commitment to sustainable development.

Recent distinctions and awards (2017–2018)

• Named World's Best Leisure Airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards
• Ranked by Atmosfair among the world's Top 20 airlines for energy efficiency
• Voted Best Leisure/Charter Airline at the Agents' Choice Awards presented by Baxter Travel Media
• Voted Best Airline at the Trophées Uni-Vers awards organized by the Association des Agents de Voyages du Québec

About Voyages SNCF
Voyages SNCF is the long-distance travel operator of SNCF Mobility. It is the reference for high-speed train in Europe. TGV is the quintessential offer of Voyages SNCF. OUIGO, the low-cost offer, completes the TGV offer. To enable everyone to enjoy door-to-door journeys, Voyages SNCF has developed various mobility offers. OUIBUS serves the major French and European cities by coach. iDVROOM and iDCAB, door-to-door services, allow you to start or end your journey by car or by taxi/car with driver. International offers such as Eurostar, Thalys, TGV Lyria, TGV France-Italy, DB-SNCF in cooperation, Renfe-SNCF in cooperation, allow our travellers to travel across Europe. With 440 high-speed trains, Voyages SNCF has the largest fleet in Europe. Every day, 700 TGVs travel nearly 10,000 km of line, including 2,000 km of high-speed lines throughout France and serve 230 stations. In 2017, Voyages SNCF transported over 133 million passengers in Europe, and since 1981 more than 2 billion customers have travelled with TGV. TGV is a registered trademark of SNCF Mobility. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Transat A.T. Inc.