Air Canada is taking flight “in earnest” today (Wednesday) after the company reached a tentative deal with the union representing its flight attendants to end a strike that began Saturday morning. A full resumption of service may take up to 10 days, says the airline.
With the departures of AC009 from Toronto to Tokyo-Narita, AC556 from Vancouver to Los Angeles and AC489 from Montreal to Toronto, Air Canada resumed operations on Tuesday. The two flights were the first of 155 scheduled for the day as the airline gradually resumed service, beginning with a limited number of international flights.
The carrier says this will gradually increase as the airline restores full service in Canada, the U.S., and around the world over the coming days.
“We are deeply apologetic to our customers and right now we’re focused on making it right and getting them on their way,” said Air Canada executive VP and chief operations officer Mark Nasr. “When customers buy a ticket on Air Canada, they rely on the brand. We’re making a promise and we failed to live up to that promise, plain and simple. We’re going to re-earn that trust and it’s going to start right now … by getting the planes back in the sky.”
The company will also introduce an “exceptional policy” Wednesday towards covering transportation expenses that customers may have incurred to get to their destination during the strike disruption.
“When customers buy a ticket on Air Canada, we are making a commitment to deliver them safely and on schedule. Following this disruption, we know confidence has been shaken. We’re working hard to fully restore their trust, starting by getting customers on their way again,” says Nasr, adding, “as well, we’ve created a dashboard on our website so anyone can transparently track our progress as our operations return to normal.”
Both can found beginning Aug. 20 at www.aircanada.com/action.
The airline, however, has cautioned that a return to full, regular service will take seven to 10 days as aircraft and crew are out of position. Some flights will continue to be cancelled until the schedule is stabilized.
Nasr said Air Canada is working to “restart everything from the ground up” after its entire fleet – not including Air Canada Express flights operating under the Jazz and PAL banners – were grounded early Saturday morning. Air Canada estimated Monday that some 500,000 customers’ flights had been cancelled since the strike began.
“Because we were shut down for so long, there is incremental maintenance,” said Nasr.
He added the airline had brought back its crews from international locations, which will further slow down the restart process. For example, after a scheduled 17-hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia, lands, the company will have to wait 24 hours to bring the airplane back in order to meet rest requirements for that same crew, since a second team isn’t available to staff the return flight.
In the meantime, Nasr said Air Canada has scaled up its customer support team as droves of passengers try to get through to an agent.
He said 5,000 employees are working to help customers with cancelled flights navigate their options, which includes a full refund or credit for future travel. Air Canada said it will also offer to rebook customers on up to 120 airlines, including competitors, where possible.
Nasr said more flexibility would be added to other customer policies. That includes allowing passengers to rebook with other airlines through Air Canada’s website or mobile app for up to seven days, compared with its usual policy of three days.
“In terms of prioritization, I mean, everybody’s important. Everybody needs to get to where we promised we would take them,” he said. “Our focus is on how do we run a stable operation to reintroduce as many seats as quickly and as safely as possible.”
The airline said only customers with confirmed bookings, whose flights are shown as operating, should go to the airport.
Air Canada and the flight attendants’ union met through the night with a federal mediator before reaching a tentative agreement. The deal will be brought to more than 10,000 members of the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees for a vote.
In a statement, the union said the tentative deal would end the practice of unpaid work by flight attendants when airplanes aren’t in the air. It added the agreement also achieves “transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our charter rights.”
“Your right to vote on your wages was preserved,” the union said in a post on its website announcing the end of the strike.
The union advised members to “fully co-operate with resumption of operations.”
The federal government intervened in the strike on Saturday morning, invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force the airline and the union into binding arbitration. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered flight attendants to return to work Sunday.
That order was defied by union officials, leading the board to state Monday that the strike was unlawful even as the union said it would press ahead. The board ordered the union to stand down and publicly tell its members to do the same by noon ET Monday, which the union didn’t do.
CUPE national president Mark Hancock had said union leaders were all-in on pushing for a negotiated deal.
“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it,” he told reporters Monday. “We’re looking for a solution here, our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table.”
CUPE said meetings with the airline resumed Monday evening after the company reached out.
The two sides struck a deal shortly before 4:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “relieved” the parties reached a tentative agreement.
“It is my hope that this will ensure flight attendants are compensated fairly at all times, while ending disruption for hundreds of thousands of Canadian families, workers, and visitors to Canada,” he said in a statement.
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