A Transat spokesperson says progress has been made in round-the-clock negotiations with the union representing the company’s pilots, but flight suspensions still loom ahead of Wednesday’s strike deadline unless a deal is made.
No Air Transat flights had been called off as of midday Monday, according to the airline and plane tracking platform FlightRadar24, but the company had scheduled four additional flights for the day to bring back passengers initially scheduled to return Wednesday who were worried they might be stranded abroad amid the labour dispute.
The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 750 pilots at Air Transat, issued a 72-hour strike notice over the weekend and Transat A.T. Inc., which owns the carrier, said cancellations would ramp up ahead of a potential work stoppage that could begin as early as 3 a.m. eastern time on Wednesday.
The two sides have been negotiating in Montreal over the past week as the company looks to avert a shutdown on the cusp of the peak holiday travel period.
“We have made progress,” Transat spokeswoman Andréan Gagné said in a release on Monday.
The nearly 40 active planes in Air Transat’s fleet ferry tens of thousands of passengers on more than 500 flights each week and even if a strike is short or averted entirely, a spate of scrapped trips could disrupt the airline’s flight schedule for days, if not longer.
A letter handed to Air Transat passengers by airport staff said flights were proceeding normally Monday and passengers could travel as planned. It also said they could cancel their booking and receive credit to be used within 12 months.
Passenger advice
For passengers with upcoming departures before Dec. 12, Air Transat says it recommends checking the status of a flight before leaving for the airport, and passengers will be notified by email of a cancellation and refunded. For those with departure dates on or after Dec. 13, the airline said usual terms and conditions apply.
If a return flight is cancelled, the airline says passengers will receive a new ticket on the next available flight within 48 hours of the original departure time, if the option exists. If passengers refuse the alternative transportation, Air Transat says they are entitled to a refund for the unused ticket.
Under the current Air Passenger Protection Regulations, cancellations or significant delays linked to a labour disruption are generally treated as events outside the carrier’s control, according to SkyRefund CEO Ivalyo Danailov. This means monetary compensation is usually not available, he said.
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