Major airline narrowly avoids strike, will restart canceled flights

Around since 1986 and the fourth-largest airline in Canada by passengers carried, Montreal-based Air Transat has been teetering dangerously close to a multi-day strike just like national carrier Air Canada earlier in the year.

On Dec. 7, the labor union, representing more than 750 pilots working for the airline that shuttles Canadian tourists to many popular warm-weather destinations, issued a 72-hour strike notice. It cited “months of unproductive bargaining” on a renegotiated work contract that Air Canada capped at a 59% salary increase over the course of five years.

On the same day, Air Transat began slowing down the 70 to 75 daily flights it runs from hubs in Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau (YUL) airports, while preparing to stop operations entirely by Wednesday, Dec. 10.

This represents a complete shutdown that, according to a late email Air Transat sent to customers Dec. 9, has been avoided through a “tentative agreement” that needs to be ratified by both sides.

“This agreement marks a significant step in the process, lifting the risk of a strike and allowing our customers to travel with peace of mind,” reads the Air Transat statement. “It will be submitted to members for ratification in the coming days.”

With a vote expected to take place before the end of the week, neither Air Transat nor the pilot’s union released the details around the agreement.

Related: Another airline set to shut down and cancel all flights over the next day

Capt. Bradley Small, who chairs the union’s master executive council, told Canadian national broadcaster CBC that the deal “meets the needs of today’s profession” and is “consistent with collective agreements other ALPA-represented pilot groups are signing with their employers,” even if it does not address every issue raised by the union.

The union previously criticized the 59% salary increase proposed by the airline as not addressing cost of living or many of the underlying issues around scheduling and work conditions.

Air Transat redirected the blame back at pilots, accusing them of “express[ing] such indifference toward Transat, its employees and clients.”

In the same statement announcing the tentative agreement, Air Transat also said operations will return to normal immediately, and flights canceled on Dec. 8 will slowly be restarted throughout Dec. 10.

“Our priority now is to rapidly restore our operations and provide you with the best possible service,” the airline said further.