Air Transat lost $79M last quarter, hit by disruptions and fuel costs. Its new AI platform from StratosX aims to cut rerouting costs.
Alpha Score of 40 reflects weak overall profile with weak momentum, weak value, weak quality, moderate sentiment.
Montreal startup StratosX has signed a deal with Air Transat to deploy its AI-powered recovery platform, X360, across the airline's operations. The system uses predictive modeling and generative AI to recommend how planes, crew, and passengers should be rerouted during disruptions, the company said Thursday.
“Typically, what happens is people will choose the first workable solution, which is: how do I fix the disruption?” Joshua Goring, StratosX's chief commercial officer, told BetaKit. “They don't choose the best one, because they're firefighting.”
Goring said the platform seeks out disruption before it cascades, suggesting rebooking options or moving reserve crew. The system flags staffing shortages or worsening weather, which he called a more frequent and severe problem.
Air Transat has been hit hard by those pressures. In its second-quarter earnings, the airline reported a net loss of $79 million, about $50 million more than the same period last year. It blamed an “unprecedented industry-wide fuel crisis.” The airline operates over 40 aircraft serving more than 70 destinations, mostly vacation spots.
“We are collaboratively building the plane as we fly it,” Goring said.
From a business perspective, disruptions create a $60 billion problem for airlines globally, Goring said, as fuel costs squeeze margins. In Canada alone, more than 8.7 million passengers faced flight disruptions in the summer of 2025, according to travel tech company AirHelp, driven largely by a nationwide strike by Air Canada workers.
StratosX was founded last year by CEO Ghislain Gagné and COO Kaitlin Guarino, a former director of operations at Southwest Airlines. The startup now has a team of roughly 10 people. Goring said Air Transat's feedback will help refine the platform.
Southwest Airlines, which has an Alpha Score of 35 (Weak) on AlphaScala, has faced its own operational challenges, and Guarino's experience there could inform the platform's design. The partnership codevelops the system, Air Transat spokesperson Stéphanie Dussault wrote in an email to BetaKit.
“As a Canadian airline, we are also pleased to collaborate with a Canadian company bringing homegrown innovation to the aviation sector,” Dussault wrote.
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