WestJet says it will take time to resume full operations after more than 200 flights were cancelled earlier this week in anticipation of a pilots’ strike. The carrier and the Air Line Pilots Association announced a tentative deal to avoid the job action on Friday after eight months of negotiations. However, weekend reports say the agreement could mean the end of its budget subsidiary Swoop.

City News reported multiple sources that advised, “one of the terms of the agreement between the airline and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is that Swoop must be fully integrated into WestJet by October 2024.”

In a statement WestJet said, “As the tentative agreement between the WestJet Group and ALPA, the union representing WestJet and Swoop, has not yet been ratified by its membership, we are unable to disclose the terms of the agreement.”

Reportedly Swoop’s pilots are paid less than those who fly for WestJet – a situation the union found untenable. ALPA was further concerned that WestJet’s takeover of Sunwing earlier this year would introduce a third level of pilots with a different pay scale.

“We could get into a position where we potentially could have three airlines under the WestJet group of companies, all flying the same aircraft type for different wages and working conditions,” Bernard Lewall, head of the Air Line Pilots Association’s WestJet contingent said earlier this year.

Lewell now says the union achieved its main goals: better pay, job security and work-life balance.

Aviation expert John Gradek called it a “landmark agreement” saying it will set the standard for labour negotiations going forward.

Gradek said the bill for hundreds of cancelled and delayed flights will be “in the millions” for WestJet.

The shutdown affected dozens of routes within Canada, the US and overseas, while flights at the WestJet Encore regional service and the WestJet-owned Sunwing Airlines were unaffected.

WestJet was founded in 1994 and began operations in 1996. Swoop was launched in 2017 and began operations in 2018.

WestJet pilots first unionized in May 2017.