Air Canada strike ends after tentative deal reached with flight attendants’ union

TORONTO — Air Canada says it plans to operate more than half of its scheduled flights Tuesday after reaching a tentative deal with the union representing its flight attendants to end a strike that began Saturday morning.

The airline was to gradually restart its operations Tuesday, with the first of its mainline aircraft resuming takeoffs around 4 p.m. ET.

By the end of the day, it plans to complete 53 per cent of scheduled flights — under the Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express banners — with a focus on international outbounds. The ramp-up will begin “in earnest” Wednesday morning for mainline North American routes, said Air Canada executive vice-president and chief operations officer Mark Nasr in an interview.

“We are deeply apologetic to our customers and right now we’re focused on making it right and getting them on their way,” said Nasr.

“When customers buy a ticket on Air Canada, they rely on the brand. We’re making a promise and we failed to live up to that promise, plain and simple. We’re going to re-earn that trust and it’s going to start right now … by getting the planes back in the sky.”

The airline has cautioned that a return to full, regular service would take seven to 10 days as aircraft and crew are out of position. Some flights will continue to be cancelled until the schedule is stabilized.

Nasr said Air Canada is working to “restart everything from the ground up” after its entire fleet — not including Air Canada Express flights operating under the Jazz and PAL banners — were grounded early Saturday morning. Air Canada estimated Monday that some 500,000 customers’ flights had been cancelled since the strike began.

“Because we were shut down for so long, there is incremental maintenance,” said Nasr.

He added the airline had brought back its crews from international locations, which will further slow down the restart process. For example, after a scheduled 17-hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia, lands, the company will have to wait 24 hours to bring the airplane back in order to meet rest requirements for that same crew, since a second team isn’t available to staff the return flight.

In the meantime, Nasr said Air Canada has scaled up its customer support team as droves of passengers try to get through to an agent.

He said 5,000 employees are working to help customers with cancelled flights navigate their options, which includes a full refund or credit for future travel. Air Canada said it will also offer to rebook customers on up to 120 airlines, including competitors, where possible.

Nasr said more flexibility would be added to other customer policies. That includes allowing passengers to rebook with other airlines through Air Canada’s website or mobile app for up to seven days, compared with its usual policy of three days.

“In terms of prioritization, I mean, everybody’s important. Everybody needs to get to where we promised we would take them,” he said.

“Our focus is on how do we run a stable operation to reintroduce as many seats as quickly and as safely as possible.”

The airline said only customers with confirmed bookings, whose flights are shown as operating, should go to the airport.

Air Canada and the flight attendants’ union met through the night with a federal mediator before reaching a tentative agreement. The deal will be brought to more than 10,000 members of the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees for a vote.

In a statement, the union said the tentative deal would end the practice of unpaid work by flight attendants when airplanes aren’t in the air. It added the agreement also achieves “transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our charter rights.”

“Your right to vote on your wages was preserved,” the union said in a post on its website announcing the end of the strike.

The union advised members to “fully co-operate with resumption of operations.”

On Monday, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said the federal government would launch a probe into “allegations of unpaid work” in the airline sector. She reiterated in a Tuesday statement after the tentative deal was reached that “nobody should work for free.”

“Although the Canada Labour Code expressly prohibits unpaid work, these concerning allegations are very serious and we will get to the bottom of it,” she said.

The federal government intervened in the strike on Saturday morning, invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force the airline and the union into binding arbitration. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered flight attendants to return to work Sunday.

That order was defied by union officials, leading the board to state Monday that the strike was unlawful even as the union said it would press ahead. The board ordered the union to stand down and publicly tell its members to do the same by noon ET Monday, which the union didn’t do.

CUPE national president Mark Hancock had said union leaders were all-in on pushing for a negotiated deal.

“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it,” he told reporters Monday.

“We’re looking for a solution here, our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table.”

CUPE said meetings with the airline resumed Monday evening after the company reached out.

The two sides struck a deal shortly before 4:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “relieved” the parties reached a tentative agreement.

“It is my hope that this will ensure flight attendants are compensated fairly at all times, while ending disruption for hundreds of thousands of Canadian families, workers, and visitors to Canada,” he said in a statement.

The Canadian Labour Congress said Air Canada flight attendants “delivered a decisive blow to employers who think they can sidestep fair bargaining by hiding behind Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.”

“The outcome makes one thing clear: Section 107 is no longer a reliable weapon for employers,” it said in a press release.

“By refusing to bow to government interference, CUPE flight attendants exposed Section 107 for what it is: an unconstitutional violation of workers’ Charter-protected right to free and fair collective bargaining. Any employer thinking of leaning on Section 107 in the future should think twice — it’s a crutch that just snapped.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2025.

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Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press