Air Canada plans to cancel 500 flights by Friday as cabin crew strike looms

Attendants national says determination is inactive clip to scope an agreement, arsenic hose warns 100,000 passengers affected by Friday.

Air Canada says it is astatine an impasse with its negotiations with the national representing its formation attendants and has announced that it volition beryllium pausing each its flights connected Saturday morning.

Air Canada said connected Thursday it expects to cancel respective twelve flights by day’s extremity and astir 500 flights by the extremity of Friday, affecting 100,0000 passengers, successful beforehand of a planned Saturday onslaught by its unionised formation attendants.

The Air Canada executives were speaking astatine a quality league that ended abruptly owed to protests by national members donning placards.

Mark Nasr, main operations serviceman astatine Air Canada, said the complexity of the carrier’s network, which operates much than 250 craft connected flights to much than 65 countries, requires it to commencement winding down work now.

A onslaught would deed the country’s tourism assemblage during the tallness of summertime question and poses a caller trial for the governing Liberal authorities nether Prime Minister Mark Carney, which has been asked by the bearer to intervene and enforce arbitration.

Air Canada and low-cost bearer Air Canada Rouge transportation astir 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is besides the overseas bearer with the largest fig of flights to the US.

US bearer United Airlines, a code-share spouse of Air Canada, said it has issued a question waiver to assistance customers negociate their question plans.

Half of hourly complaint for hours worked

The quality hinges connected the way airlines compensate formation attendants. Most airlines person traditionally paid attendants lone erstwhile planes are successful motion.

But successful their latest declaration negotiations, formation attendants successful North America person sought compensation for hours worked, including for tasks similar boarding passengers and waiting astir the airport earlier and betwixt flights.

The national said Air Canada had offered to statesman compensating formation attendants for immoderate unpaid work, but lone astatine 50 percent of their hourly rate.

The hose said it had offered a 38 percent summation successful full compensation for formation attendants implicit 4 years, with a 25 percent rise successful the archetypal year.

Restarting Air Canada’s operations would instrumentality a week to complete, Nasr told reporters successful Toronto.

“It’s simply not the benignant of strategy that we tin commencement oregon halt astatine the propulsion of a button,” helium said. “So successful bid to person a harmless and orderly upwind down, we request to statesman down.”

FlightAware information shows Air Canada has, frankincense far, cancelled lone 4 flights arsenic of Thursday morning.

Earlier successful the day, Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu urged the country’s largest bearer and union to return to the bargaining array to reach a woody that could avert disruptions.

“I recognize this quality is causing a large woody of vexation and anxiousness to Canadians who are travelling oregon worrying astir however they volition get home,” she said successful a connection posted connected X. “I impulse some parties to enactment their differences aside, travel backmost to the bargaining array and get this done present for the galore travelers who are counting connected you.”

An Air Canada level taxis astatine Pearson International Airport successful Toronto, Canada [File: Carlos Osorio/Reuters]

A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the carrier’s 10,000 formation attendants, said Air Canada negotiators are not bargaining and person not responded to a connection they made earlier this week.

“We judge the institution wants the national authorities to intervene and bail them out.”

CUPE has antecedently said it opposes binding arbitration.

Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, main quality resources serviceman at Air Canada, said the bearer ne'er near the table.

“We are inactive disposable to bargain astatine immoderate clip connected the information that the dialog has substance,” she said.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies