Canadian airline to start cancelling flights ahead of planned strike

Key Highlights

• "Months of unproductive bargaining ends now.
• If we cannot reach an agreement, management will be responsible for every cancelled flight and stranded passenger."Air Transat pilots have been negotiating for nearly a year to replace their current 2015 contract with one that they hope will cement "industry-standard pay, benefits, work rules, and job security", the pilots' union, the Air Line Pilots Association, said.
• The union said that 99% of its 750 Air Transat pilots had voted to authorise their leadership to declare a strike. In response, the airline - which is one of the three largest in Canada - said it will start cancelling flights on Monday, with a suspension of all flights on Tuesday, in preparation for a possible pilots strike on Wednesday.
• "This strike notice is premature given the progress made at the bargaining table and the generous offers made by Air Transat," Julie Lamontagne, a human resources officer at Air Transat, said in a statement. Ms Lamontagne said the airline had been negotiating in good faith, and accused the pilots union of showing "indifference toward Transat" in its "reckless decision" to authorise a strike "that does not reflect the state of negotiations".
• The airline said it its flight cancellations were necessary to prevent crews, passengers and aircraft from being "stranded abroad if the strike occurs".