Air Canada makes plans to cancel flights as pilots' strike nears
Air Canada says it’s making plans to suspend flights beginning on Sept. 15 if a new contract is not reached with the union representing more than 5,000 pilots.
Canada’s largest airline said Monday the parties remain far apart after more than year of talks, and a work stoppage is “increasingly likely.”
The pilots will be in a legal position to issue a 72-hour strike notice at 12:01 a.m. Montreal time on Sunday. Air Canada would be allowed to issue a lockout notice at the same time if there’s no agreement. “Flights throughout the system would be progressively canceled over three days,” the airline said, with a complete shutdown happening Sept. 18.
More than 110,000 people travel each day with Air Canada. The airline has introduced a rebooking policy for customers with travels between Sept. 15 and Sept. 23.
The Air Line Pilots Association “remains inflexible on its unreasonable wage demands,” Air Canada said in the statement. Bloomberg News reported last week that the airline has offered to boost the pilots’ pay by about 30 per cent within the next three years, including an immediate minimum 20 per cent increase. The pilots haven’t received a raise since last year.
ALPA did not respond immediately to a request to comment.
Air Canada said it has offered arbitration to the union and that it “would look to the government to intervene as it has in recent labor disputes.” In August, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, following a request by the federal labour minister, ordered workers from the country’s two largest railways to go back to work and to settle their contract demands via arbitration.
The airline’s cargo operations would also be impacted. “Each day, Air Canada Cargo carries in the belly holds of its aircraft and
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