Air Canada and APLA reach last-minute agreement, averting looming strike
Air Canada (AC.TO) announced early Sunday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents over 5,200 pilots, averting a strike that would have cancelled 670 flights per day.
With the agreement in place, Air Canada and its regional subsidiary Air Canada Rouge, which collectively operate nearly 670 flights daily carrying around 110,000 passengers and freight, will continue their operations as usual.
Canada’s largest airline stated that the details of the new agreement with the ALPA will remain confidential until ratified by its members, with a vote expected to conclude within the next month.
According to the ALPA, the new agreement is worth an additional C$1.9 billion ($1.40 billion) over four years, representing a 46% increase compared to the previous contract that expired in September 2023.
Over the past 15 months, negotiations to finalise an agreement have been ongoing to prevent the looming scenario of hundreds of flight cancellations over the next three days.
The pilots’ union focused on addressing key issues including “compensation, retirement, and work rules,” as well as the wage disparities in comparison to their counterparts at the major US airlines like United Airlines (UAL.O), who received pay raises of almost 42%.
Consequently, some United Airlines pilots earned 92% more than their counterparts at Air Canada, according to the pilots’ association’s data. This marks a significant shift from 2013, when the pay gap was only 3%.
