Air Canada to cancel most of its 700 flights by Friday as strike looms

Air Canada expects to cancel the majority of its estimated 700 daily flights on Friday, ahead of a planned Saturday strike by unionized flight attendants, leaving some 100,000 passengers scrambling to make alternative travel plans.

Canada's largest carrier said on Thursday it would cancel several dozen flights by day's end and around 500 flights by the end of Friday, as its 10,000 flight attendants gear up to strike over stalled contract talks on higher wages and unpaid work.

Mark Nasr, chief operations officer at Air Canada, said the complexity of the carrier's network, which operates over 250 aircraft on flights to more than 65 countries, requires it to start winding down service before cutting it completely on Saturday. Restarting operations would take a week to complete.

"It's simply not the kind of system that we can start or stop at the push of a button," Nasr told reporters in Toronto.

FlightAware data showed Air Canada had canceled only 10 flights as of Thursday afternoon.

A strike would deliver a big blow to the country's tourism sector during the height of the summer travel season and pose a fresh test for the ruling Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, which has been asked by the carrier to intervene and impose arbitration.

Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is also the foreign carrier with the largest number of flights to the U.S.

U.S. carrier United Airlines, a code share partner of Air Canada, said it has issued a travel waiver to help customers manage their travel plans.

Two days before the possible work stoppage, Air Canada passengers expressed concerns to Reuters over missed vacations and getting stranded abroad, and many also voiced support for the flight attendants.

David Nguyen, 28, a pharmacist on vacation outside of Cancun, Mexico, said he was worried his flight back to Toronto on Friday will get cancelled, leaving him stranded in paradise. He said he tried rebooking on another carrier but all the refundable options were sold out and the ones that are left cost over C$1,000 ($724.06).

“If my flight does get cancelled, I think that's where I'll be in a little bit of a pickle because I don't really know what my next step will be,” said Nguyen, adding that Air Canada "should just pay their flight attendants appropriately."

Summer Mehdi, 19, a third-year student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, said her family of four planned to catch a flight from Toronto to Lisbon on Saturday, but their summer vacation to Portugal and France was now in limbo.

"My family and I, we 100% agree with the strike happening and we obviously want the employees to get what they deserve," Mehdi said. "We just wish there was more communication, and I think it's just like a stressful situation for everyone."

Unpaid work

Earlier in the day, Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu urged both parties in the dispute to return to the bargaining table and reach a deal that could avert disruptions.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the flight attendants, said Air Canada negotiators stopped bargaining and have not responded to a proposal they made earlier this week.

"We believe the company wants the federal government to intervene and bail them out."

Hajdu said on the social media site X she has agreed to a union request to respond to the airline's call for binding arbitration by 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT) on Friday. CUPE has previously said it opposes binding arbitration.

Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, chief human resources officer at Air Canada, said on Thursday the carrier was "available to bargain at any time on the condition that the negotiation has substance."

Meloul-Wechsler spoke at a press conference held by Air Canada executives that ended abruptly when union members donning placards entered the Toronto hotel conference room where it was being held.

The dispute hinges on the way airlines compensate flight attendants. Most have traditionally paid them only when planes are in motion.

But in their latest contract negotiations, flight attendants in North America have sought compensation for hours worked, including for tasks such as boarding passengers and waiting around the airport before and between flights.

The union said Air Canada had offered to begin compensating flight attendants for some unpaid work - which the union says amounts to about 35 hours a month - but only at 50% of their hourly rate.

The airline said it had offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year. The union has not publicized what it has asked for in terms of higher wages.