Air Transat pilots begin voting today (Dec. 19) on a tentative deal with the company that would see raises of well over 50%, boosting the salary for most senior pilots to nearly $388,000 a year by May 2029.
Meanwhile, experienced first officers’ salary would top $238,000, according to a copy of the agreement in principle obtained by The Canadian Press.
The five-year deal retroactive to this past May would see captains start off at $220,500 in their first year of service and first officers at $85,000. Those two figures represent jumps of roughly 47% and 60%, respectively.
The would-be agreement, which was presented to member throughout the course of this week, means an extra $100,000-plus each year for the most experienced captains. It also lays out a signing bonus of 11% of salary, spread over two years.
Representatives from Transat and the Air Line Pilots Association said in an interview last week that the agreement includes major gains that put pilots in the same ballpark as their colleagues at Air Canada and WestJet.
“We are where the industry is at,” said Bradley Small, who chairs the union’s Air Transat contingent.
“We recognized the value of our pilots, but we gained some productivity,” said Transat spokeswoman Andréan Gagné.
Air Transat’s 750 pilots will wrap up the vote on the deal, which was reached late Dec. 9 evening with hours to go on a strike deadline, on Jan. 6.
The labour dispute would have marked the third strike in a year and a half in Canada’s airline sector, as workers seek to make gains that match those achieved elsewhere in North America amid the rising cost of living.
In late 2024 Air Canada pilots notched a wage hike of nearly 42% over four years. The increase outstrips major gains won the previous year by pilots at the three biggest U.S. airlines, where pay bumps ranged between 34 and 40% – although they were starting from a higher baseline.
In 2023, WestJet pilots secured a 24% pay bump over four years.
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