The union representing Air Transat pilots said late Tuesday they have reached a tentative agreement with the airline, averting a strike after more flights were cancelled due to the looming job action.
Pilots had been due to walk off the job early Wednesday morning unless a deal was reached.
“We are pleased to have finally reached a tentative agreement with the union representing our pilots, marking a complete overhaul of their collective agreement,” Air Transat president and CEO Annick Guérard said in a statement.
“We would have greatly preferred to avoid the threat of a strike, which forced us to modify our operations. We are aware that this period has created significant uncertainty, and we extend our sincerest apologies to our customers whose flights were disrupted in recent days. Our priority now is to quickly restore our operations and deliver on our commitment to provide service that meets our standards.”
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said its over 750 Air Transat members will vote on the proposed collective agreement in the coming days.
“Our pilots have been frustrated flying under a decade-old, outdated collective agreement. This was compounded by months of stall tactics by Air Transat management during our nearly year-long negotiation,” Bradley Small, chair of ALPA’s Air Transat Master Executive Council, said in a statement.
“That is why we are pleased to announce that our unity and resolve finally brought Air Transat management to the bargaining table to negotiate in a meaningful way, resulting in a tentative agreement.”
The airline said earlier Tuesday it had sent an “improved offer” to the union, while cancelling a second wave of flights ahead of the strike deadline.
Get daily National news
“Improved offers have been submitted in the past few hours, along with significant concessions, reflecting our determination to find common ground,” a spokesperson for Air Transat said in a statement.
“However, in the absence of an agreement at this time, we are compelled and regret to proceed with the cancellation of a second wave of flights scheduled for today.”
Air Transat announced the first round of flight cancellations late Monday night, with a second wave announced Tuesday afternoon.
The cancelled flights are all international and connect two Canadian airports, Toronto Pearson airport (YYZ) and Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport (YUL), to international destinations.
The international destinations affected are Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) in the Dominican Republic, Cancún International Airport (CUN) in Mexico, Manchester Airport (MAN) in England, Málaga Airport (AGP) in Spain, Lisbon Airport (LIS) in Portugal, Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris, London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM) in Peru.
-
![]()
Sephora Canada drops more hints about what your friends really want for the holidays -
![]()
Business Matters: Half of Canadians support a new pipeline between Alberta and B.C. -
![]()
No help for Broadway corridor businesses suffering from subway construction -
![]()
City of Burnaby pushes back at provincial government’s density rules
The following flights are cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday, the airline said:
Dec. 9, Tuesday:
- TS986 YYZ-PUJ
- TS987 PUJ-YYZ
- TS426 YYZ-CUN
- TS427 CUN-YYZ
- TS498 YUL-PUJ
- TS499 PUJ-YUL
- TS206 YYZ-MAN
- TS252 YUL-AGP
- TS480 YYZ-LIS
- TS110 YUL-CDG
- TS122 YYZ-LGW
- TS150 YUL-LIM
Dec. 10, Wednesday:
- TS207 MAN-YYZ
- TS253 AGP-YUL
- TS481 LIS-YYZ
- TS111 CDG-YUL
- TS123 LGW-YYZ
- TS151 LIM-YUL
The airline has also launched a “special program” to bring back passengers who might be stranded because of a possible strike later this week.
The program has seen passengers who had return flights scheduled for Wednesday return earlier.
Pilots working for Air Transat voted overwhelmingly to give their union a strike mandate last week.
On Sunday, the union gave a 72-hour strike notice to the airline.
Pilots could have walked off the job as soon as 3 a.m. eastern standard time on Wednesday.
The company said it is instituting a “flexibility policy” for customers travelling over the next five days, “allowing them to change or postpone their travels at no additional cost.”
The airline said customers whose flights are cancelled will receive a new ticket on the next available flight within 48 hours of their original departure time, if that option exists.
Failing that, the airline said it will issue a refund for the unused portion of the trip.
Customers can refuse the alternative offered by Air Transat and will be entitled to a refund for the unused ticket.
Passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.
In its strike notice on Sunday, the Air Line Pilots Association said the “unproductive bargaining” process and Air Transat management would be responsible for “every canceled flight and stranded passenger.”
“There is still time to avoid a strike but unless significant progress is made at the bargaining table, we will strike if that’s what it takes to achieve a modern contract,” Small said.
The previous collective bargaining agreement, which had been in place for a decade, expired in April. The union says wages at the airline have suffered due to the lack of a new collective agreement.
The current contract “lags significantly behind industry standards in Canada and North America,” the union said.
Air Transat called the strike notice “premature.”
The threatened strike came months after Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job over stalled negotiations.
That union later rejected the tentative agreement that brought an end to a three-day strike, and the two parties are now in arbitration to determine new wages under the collective agreement.
Comments