Hundreds of flights suffer cancellation for Canada – Wetin cause am and why

Dem no support media player for your device Play video, “Watch: Moment Air Canada ends news conference after union activists disrupt event”, Duration 0,29 00:29 Wetin we call dis Video, Watch: Moment Air Canada end news conference afta union activists disturb event

2 hours wey don pass

Air Canada don suspend all dia flights becos of strike by dia cabin staff and di move fit disturb travel plans for around 130,000 passengers per day, according to di airline.

Di union wey dey represent more dan 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants bin confam di 72-hour industrial action early Saturday morning.

Di airline say dem don suspend all flights, wey include dose wey dey under dia budget arm Air Canada Rouge, and advise customers wey dey affected make dem no travel to di airport unless dem dey fly wit different airline.

Canada largest airline bin begin dey suspend dia flights on Thursday afta di union of flight attendants bin issue 72-hour strike notice.

Air Canada say dem dey extremely disappointed by di decision to strike.

During one press conference on Thursday, di union bin force dia way into di center and stop wetin di Air Canada executive vice president dey tok.

“Dis na situation wey dey avoidable,” Air Canada executive vice president Arielle Meloul tok during di press conference.

Although, Canadian jobs minister Patty Hajdu say make Air Canada and di union return to negotiation to avoid di strike, e no work.

Why Air Canada flight attendants go on strike

Di Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) wey get 10,000 Air Canada attendants bin provide strike notice on Wednesday afternoon.

Di union say dem bargain in good faith but Air Canada no address issues wey surround wages and unpaid work.

Why Air Canada flight attendants dey strike be say dem dey call for higher salaries. Also, dem want make dem get paid for work wen aircraft dey for ground.

Earlier dis month, 99.7% of employees by di union bin vote for strike. Sake of dis strike, di airline say around 500 flights go dey affected per day.

Flight attendants show for major Canadian airports, wia passengers dey try find new bookings earlier dis week.

Air Canada wey dey fly directly to 180 cities worldwide, say dem “suspend all operations”.

By Friday night, di airline say e don cancel 623 flights wey affect more dan 100,000 passengers.

Di airline say e offer flight attendants 38% increase in total compensation ova four years, wit 25% raise for di first year.

But di union say di offer dey “below inflation, below market value, below minimum wage” and go still leave flight attendants unpaid for some hours of work wey include boarding and waiting for airports ahead of flights.

Wetin go happun to passengers of Air Canada

Customers wey dia flights dey cancelled go get notification and dem go receive full refund, according to di airline.

Di company say dem don also make arrangements wit oda Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers wit alternative travel options.

Customers go dey notified of di alternative options, but if fit take time or fit no dey immediately possible.

Who go dey affected by di Air Canada strike

Air Canada dey operate for 64 kontris wit fleet of 259 aircrafts. And dem say di unplanned shutdown na “major risk” to di company and dia employees.

Di flight cancellation dey expected to affect 130,000 daily customers, wey include 25,000 Canadians, wey dey travel during di summer period.

According to di airline, dem say about 623 flights don dey cancelled and e go affect more dan 100,000 passengers.

AI-assisted summary Air Canada flight attendants have begun an indefinite strike, grounding most flights and impacting thousands of passengers.

The strike stems from a breakdown in negotiations between the union and airline management over wages and compensation.

Approximately 27,000 U.S. passengers are estimated to be affected daily, as Air Canada is a popular connector for flights to Europe and Asia.

Most Air Canada flights are grounded as the carrier’s flight attendants have begun an indefinite strike. According to FlightAware, 86% of Air Canada’s Saturday schedule is canceled, as well as 96% of Air Canada Rouge’s schedule as of 9:20 a.m. ET.

The airline began winding down its operations on Wednesday in preparation for the walk-off and warned in a statement that it expects about 130,000 passengers worldwide to be affected each day of the strike.

Flight attendants walked off the job after their union negotiators reached an impasse with the airline management over wages and compensation.

Air Canada is offering a waiver to passengers whose flights might be affected, allowing travelers who booked their flight by Aug. 14 to move their tickets to travel between Aug. 21 and Sept. 12 without paying a fee or fare difference. More information about the waiver is available on Air Canada’s website.

AirAdvisor, a consumer airline refund website, suggests that as many as 27,000 U.S passengers per day could be affected.

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While Air Canada is not a major carrier within the U.S., it is a key link across the border and a popular choice for connecting flights to Europe and Asia for American travelers.

According to AirAdvisor, Air Canada has up to 135 flights a day from the U.S. to its hubs in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami seeing the most service. The airline operates some flights from the U.S. to other non-hub destinations in Canada as well.

Flights operated by Air Canada’s regional partners, Jazz and PAL, will continue operating during the strike, so some services booked through Air Canada will continue, but the airline noted in its statement that those affiliates operate only around 20% of its services.

The airline warned that it is trying to get passengers reaccommodated on other carriers, but that seat availability is limited.

“Customers whose flights are cancelled will be notified and they will be eligible for a full refund, which can be obtained online at www.aircanada.com or through the Air Canada mobile app. The company has made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers alternative travel options to the extent possible,” Air Canada’s statement said. “Customers will be notified of alternative travel options that are identified for them. However, given other carriers are already very full due to the summer travel peak, securing such capacity will take time and, in many cases, will not be immediately possible.”

As a major United Airlines partner, thanks to both carriers’ membership in the Star Alliance, United Airlines is likely to see the most overflow for rebookings among carriers in the U.S.

What is Air Canada?

Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline in Canada. As a member of Star Alliance, its partners include United Airlines, Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways and a number of other global carriers.

How big is Air Canada in the US?

Air Canada is the biggest airline connecting Canadian markets to U.S. destinations, and also a major option for those looking to connect from the U.S. to Europe or Asia.

“What makes this strike particularly disruptive is its timing and scope. We’re in the peak summer travel window, when planes are already running at 85-90% capacity and last-minute alternatives are scarce,” Anton Radchenko, AirAdvisor’s founder, said in a statement. “Air Canada isn’t just another carrier; it’s the primary connector between the US and Canada, handling thousands of passengers daily across leisure, business, and essential travel. When its network seizes up, the ripple effect touches every major US hub, from JFK and LAX to Seattle and Miami.”

He said northern U.S. airline hubs are likely to see increased traffic as Air Canada passengers to and from overseas destinations get rebooked through American markets. U.S. passengers heading to Europe via Toronto or Montreal, or to Asia via Vancouver, are also likely to encounter issues during the strike.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

A few days ago, I wrote about how Air Canada flight attendants had threatened to go on strike. Well, the strike has officially kicked off, and Air Canada has basically shut down its operations, given that management responded to the strike warning with a lockout notice. Wow.

Air Canada flight attendants are now on strike

For quite some time, Air Canada management and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the roughly 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, have been in negotiations over a new contract.

Recently, the two parties reached a dead end — flight attendants voted on a strike authorization, and 99.7% of members voted in favor of industrial action. Unlike in the United States, airline labor groups in Canada actually have the power to go on strike relatively easily, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing right now.

Earlier in the week, CUPE issued a 72-hour strike notice, allowing them to go on strike as of Saturday, August 16, 2025. In response to this, Air Canada issued a lockout notice, to mitigate the strike’s customer impact, and allow the airline to shut down in an orderly manner. That’s exactly what has happened — as of roughly 1AM this morning, Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have suspended all operations.

Note that Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz and PAL Airlines will continue to operate as normal. However, those carriers only transport roughly 20% of Air Canada’s daily customers. Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge carry roughly 130,000 passengers per day, who are impacted by this industrial action.

If you’re booked on a canceled Air Canada flight, there a couple of things to note:

Air Canada claims it will attempt to rebook passengers on flights on other airlines, but good luck actually getting through to an agent, given the volume of travelers who need rebooking, plus the limited capacity on other airlines during a busy summer travel period

If you are on an itinerary that qualifies for EC261 or UK261 compensation, then you’re entitled to a duty of care and cash compensation, as an airline strike isn’t considered an extraordinary circumstance

Air Canada flight attendants are now officially on strike

Why can’t Air Canada and the union come to an agreement?

Air Canada management claims it has been in eight months of good faith negotiations, including soliciting the help of federal conciliators, and an offer to enter binding arbitration. However, the company has been unable to come to an agreement with the union.

Air Canada emphasizes how on August 11, 2025, it tabled a revised comprehensive proposal, which would’ve seen flight attendants get a 38% pay increase over four years. The offer also addressed the issue of ground pay, improved pensions and benefits, increased crew rest, and more.

Here’s how Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau describes this:

We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve. However, the disappointing conduct of CUPE’s negotiators and the union’s stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canada’s and Air Canada Rouge’s operations through a lockout. As we have seen elsewhere in our industry with other labour disruptions, unplanned or uncontrolled shutdowns, such as we are now at risk of through a strike, can create chaos for travellers that is far, far worse. Our latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation over four years that would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada, along with provisions for ground pay and other work-life balance, career and pension improvements. At the same time, we asked for no concessions from the union. Given this, while we remain available for discussions with CUPE, we have requested government-directed arbitration as we now view it as the only certain avenue to bring closure to bargaining and mitigate the impact on travellers, business and the Canadian economy.

As you’d expect, the union has a very different take. Here’s how union president Wesley Lesosky describes the motivation behind going on strike:

After nine months of the company delaying at the bargaining table on the fundamental issues – unpaid work and poverty wages – the union asked for and received an unprecedented 99.7% strike mandate from its membership. Flight attendants turned out by the hundreds at airports across the country for a powerful showing of solidarity for their August 11 Day of Action. Air Canada has seen how determined and united flight attendants are to end unpaid work and win a real cost-of-living increase to wages. Now, Air Canada has decided they no longer want to negotiate. They want to go to arbitration, rather than stay at the bargaining table and bargain a new contract. Everyone knows the best deals are negotiated at the bargaining table, not handed down by an outside third-party. Then why does Air Canada want the union to agree to arbitration? First, arbitrators rely on precedent and the status quo to make their determinations. But Air Canada flight attendants are trying to break the status quo by ending the historic abuse of unpaid work in this industry. Air Canada wants an arbitrator to do their dirty work for them to keep the status quo intact. Second, an arbitrator’s determination would be final. Members would not get a chance to vote on it. Air Canada wants to go to arbitration because they want to take away our members’ democratic voice. The union has declined the company’s proposal to preserve the exploitative status quo and take away our members’ voice. The Air Canada Component of CUPE remains at the bargaining table, ready to negotiate. We have always been available to negotiate. The union was available to continue discussions while it sought a strike mandate – the company never reached out.

Regarding Air Canada’s claim of a 38% pay increase, here’s how the union responds to that:

Meanwhile, on wages, Air Canada’s offer is below market value, below inflation, and below minimum wage. Air Canada has offered 8% in the first year as a one-time catch-up. Meanwhile, flight attendants have taken a 9% cut to their real wages due to inflation over the course of their last contract since 2015. This offer does not even keep up with inflation – it is, in effect, a pay cut. Air Canada’s offer is below inflation. Air Canada is using misleading “kitchen-sink” figures to make the public believe that flight attendants who rely on food banks and second and third jobs are the ones being greedy. In reality, the company has offered a 17.2% wage increase over four years. Even in year four of Air Canada’s offer, in 2028, Air Canada flight attendants would earn less than competitor airlines in Canada earn today. Air Canada’s offer is below market value. Even with the “best offer” that Air Canada can make, an entry-level Air Canada flight attendant working full-time will still earn less than federal minimum wage. Junior Air Canada flight attendants working full-time (75 credit hours per month) currently earn $1,952 per month pre-taxes. With Air Canada’s first-year catch-up increase of 8%, their earnings would increase to $2,108.16 per month. Meanwhile, a worker earning federal minimum wage at $17.75 per hour would earn $2,840.00 per month pre-taxes. Air Canada’s offer is below minimum wage. Air Canada has posted billions in profits in recent years. They can afford to pay flight attendants fairly without raising costs for the public.

Everyone can draw their own conclusions, but that’s what the two sides are saying…

Management & the union have very different takes

Bottom line

Air Canada flight attendants have gone on strike as of Saturday, August 16, 2025. For that matter, the airline has locked out flight attendants, deciding it’s not worth trying to operate during a strike. Air Canada management emphasizes how it has offered flight attendants a 38% increase over the course of four years, but the union states that what has been offered doesn’t even keep up with inflation.

It’s anyone’s guess how long this goes on for, but I certainly hope there’s a resolution soon…

How do you see this Air Canada strike situation playing out?