Air Canada is working on plans to start suspending operations ahead of a looming pilot strike, the carrier said in a statement Monday morning.
Unless a settlement is reached by Sunday, either Air Canada or the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents 5,200 Air Canada pilots, could issue a 72-hour lockout or strike notice.
Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement that while there was still time to reach an agreement with the pilots, “Canadians have recently seen the chaos abrupt airline shutdowns cause for travellers, which obliges us to do everything we can to protect our customers from an increasingly likely work stoppage.”
Rosseau said 80 per cent of Air Canada’s passengers could be affected by work stoppages. The airline said it will begin an “orderly shutdown” of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations once a strike or lockout notice is issued.
Air Canada Express flights will continue to operate, as third-party carriers Jazz and PAL Airlines provide these services. However, these regional partners carry only about 20 per cent of Air Canada’s daily customers, many of whom ultimately connect on Air Canada flights.
The airline said a work stoppage could affect 110,000 passengers a day.
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The Air Line Pilots Association has not set a strike date, but the pilots have voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike mandate if an agreement on a new contract cannot be reached.
Under the airline’s policy, customers with tickets for travel between Sept. 15 and 23 can rebook on any other Air Canada flight with the same origin and destination up to Nov. 30 at no additional cost. Customers who want to cancel and rebook their travel for after that date will have their change fees waived but will have to pay any fare difference.
The pilots’ union says negotiations had stalled as of last week.
“Due to the confidential nature of negotiations, we cannot comment [on] specific proposals that are being passed between the parties at the negotiating table,” said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA master executive council, in a statement Thursday when asked if the airline had made any offers to the union.
Hudy added, “What we can say is that as of last week, talks had completely stalled.”
Hudy did not share any further details of offers from Air Canada but said percentage increases in wages would depend on the seniority of the pilot. She said this would mean that junior pilots would likely see the highest increase in the event of a deal being reached.
“They live in the biggest cities across Canada and currently make a salary that makes it very hard to sustain a family,” Hudy said.
“One quarter of our pilots have a second job, with almost 80 per cent of those needing the job out of necessity. We are trying to change that. Additionally, due to our latest 10-year contract, our compensation has not kept up with inflation, nor the levels of our peer carriers.”
Last week, Air Canada said in a statement that it intended to reach a negotiated settlement with the union.
The airline said progress has been made in its negotiations and it hopes to reach a deal, but it still faces the possibility of a strike by its 5,200 pilots as early as Sept. 17 when the union will be in a strike position.
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