On May 1, 2024, an Air Canada Boeing 777-333(ER) aircraft was preparing to take off on the runway of Barcelona El Prat Airport in Barcelona, Spain.
Joan Valls | Noor Photos | Getty Images
air canada Earlier on Sunday, the company said it had reached a tentative agreement with its pilots union on a new four-year collective agreement, a last-minute deal that would avoid near-term strikes or lockouts.
Until a tentative deal is reached, Canada’s largest airline has been preparing to phase out flights over three days and completely shut down its operations as early as 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) on Wednesday, September 18.
Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operate nearly 670 flights every day, carrying about 110,000 passengers and cargo, and will continue to fly normally.
Air Canada said in a statement that the terms of its new agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents more than 5,200 pilots, will remain confidential pending a ratification vote by its members, which is expected next month.
ALPA said in a separate statement that its leaders had approved a tentative agreement with Air Canada for member approval.
The two sides have been negotiating a new contract for the past 15 months, with pilots demanding pay levels that would narrow the pay gap with peers at major U.S. airlines such as United Airlines.
Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon posted on X that travel disruptions for Canadians were avoided thanks to the hard work of all parties and federal mediators.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the Canadian government would not intervene within 24 hours to end the dispute, as it did last month to end a strike at Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway, the two largest railroads.
Air Canada earlier proposed to increase wages by more than 30% and increase pension and health benefits. But the union said the proposal was not good enough for members who had been working under pay and quality-of-life terms negotiated in 2014.
Over the past two years, American Airlines pilots have negotiated significant pay increases in new contracts amid a travel boom and staffing shortages. For example, United Airlines’ new pilot contract includes about a 42% pay increase.
Data from the Pilots Association shows that some United pilots currently earn 92 per cent more than their Air Canada counterparts. In 2013, the salary gap was only 3%.
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