Air Canada suspends operations as flight attendants go on strike
[August 16, 2025] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Air Canada suspended all operations as more than 10,000
Air Canada flight attendants went on strike early Saturday after a
deadline to reach a deal passed, leaving travelers around the world
stranded and scrambling during the peak summer travel season.
Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot confirmed the
strike has started after no deal was reached, and the airline said
shortly after that it would halt operations.
A bitter contract fight between Canada’s largest airline and the union
representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as the
union turned down the airline’s request to enter into
government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to
strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new
contract.
Flight attendants walk off the job
Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday.
Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight
attendants out of airports.
Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu met with both the airline and union on
Friday night and urged them to work harder to them to reach a deal “once
and for all."
“It is unacceptable that such little progress has been made. Canadians
are counting on both parties to put forward their best efforts,” Hajdu
said in a statement posted on social media.
Pouliot, the spokesman for the union, earlier said the union had a
meeting with Hajdu and representatives from Air Canada earlier Friday
evening.
“CUPE has engaged with the mediator to relay our willingness to continue
bargaining — despite the fact that Air Canada has not countered our last
two offers since Tuesday,” he said in a email. “We’re here to bargain a
deal, not to go on strike.”
Travelers are in limbo
A complete shutdown will impact about 130,000 people a day, and some
25,000 Canadians a day may be stranded abroad. Air Canada operates
around 700 flights per day.
Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving
since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with
nonrefundable lodging is on the line as they wait to hear from Air
Canada about the fate of their Saturday night flight to Nice, France.
How long the airline’s planes will be grounded remains to be seen, but
Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up
to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached.
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Cancelled and delayed Air Canada flights are seen on the departure
board at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in
Dorval, Que., Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian
Press via AP)
 Passengers whose travel is impacted
will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website
or mobile app, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options
through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it
warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because
flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel
peak.”
Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different
carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than
double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.
“At this point, it’s just a waiting game,” he said.
Laroche said he was initially upset over the union’s decision to go
on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the
key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the
issue of wages.
“Their wage is barely livable,” Laroche said.
Sides say they're far apart on pay
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in
contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a
tentative deal.
Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the
unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.
The airline’s latest offer included a 38% increase in total
compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that
it said “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated
in Canada.”
But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first
year didn’t go far enough because of inflation. ___
Associated Press airlines writer Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.
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