Air Canada is cancelling 500 flights today and will stop all services on Saturday ahead of threatened weekend strike action by its 10,000 cabin crew.
Crew members are threatening to strike at 1am. ET on Saturday and the airline has taken the pre-emptive measure of cancelling Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights, although Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines will go ahead.
Air Canada Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Mark Nasr told a press conference on Thursday that ‘under the best circumstances [restart operations] will take a full week to complete’.
The press conference was brought to a halt after 25 minutes when members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) arrived with with placards and disrupted the event.
Members could be seen holding signs that said ‘Unpaid work won’t fly’ and ‘Unfair Canada’ in front of Mark and Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer and Public Affairs Arielle Meloul.
Air Canada cancelled ‘several dozen flights’ on Thursday 14 August in addition to the 500 cancelled today and the total stoppage on Saturday.
Mark said: “This gradual wind down will help limit the strike impact by allowing as many customers as possible to complete their journeys.
“But importantly, it will also help facilitate an orderly restart, which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.”
Passengers booked to travel between 15-18 August can change their flight for free for another date between 21 August and 12 September.
The airline has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers with alternative travel options where possible, but has previously warned it can’t guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full ‘due to the summer travel peak’.
Mark added: “Customers whose flights are cancelled will be notified promptly and given the option of a full refund.
“We ask customers to use the Air Canada website and mobile app, and please do not come to the airport unless you have a confirmed flight.”
