As a pilot strike looms this week, Air Transat is set to begin cancelling flights on Monday.
Pilots working for Air Transat had voted overwhelmingly to give their union a strike mandate last week.
On Sunday, the union gave the company a 72-hour strike notice.
Pilots could walk off the job as soon as 3 a.m. Eastern standard time on Wednesday.
As a result, Air Transat says it “must immediately begin planning for the cancellation of its flights and the repatriation of passengers, crews, and aircraft to prevent them from being stranded abroad if the strike occurs.”
“The goal is to bring back everyone to their point of origin,” the airline said in a statement Sunday.
The airline will start cancelling flights as early as Monday, with a “complete suspension” of operations expected by Tuesday – ahead of a strike Wednesday.
The union told Global News on Monday that negotiations with the airline “extended into the early morning hours and resumed later this morning.”
Global News has reached out to Air Transat as of Monday morning asking for how many flights have been cancelled so far, as well as to major airports across Canada.
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This article will be updated as that information is received.
The company said it is instituting a “flexibility policy” for customers travelling over the next five days, “allowing them to change or postpone their travels at no additional cost.”
The airline said customers whose flights are cancelled will receive a new ticket on the next available flight within 48 hours of their original departure time, if that option exists.
Failing that, the airline said it will issue a refund for the unused portion of the trip.
Customers can refuse the alternative offered by Air Transat and will be entitled to a refund for the unused ticket.
Passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.
In its strike notice on Sunday, the Air Line Pilots Association said the “unproductive bargaining” process and Air Transat management would be responsible for “every canceled flight and stranded passenger.”
“There is still time to avoid a strike but unless significant progress is made at the bargaining table, we will strike if that’s what it takes to achieve a modern contract,” said Bradley Small, chair of ALPA’s Air Transat Master Executive Council.
The previous collective bargaining agreement, which had been in place for a decade, expired in April this year. The union says wages at the airline have suffered due to the lack of a new collective agreement.
The current contract “lags significantly behind industry standards in Canada and North America,” the union said.
Air Transat called the strike notice “premature.”
“This strike notice is premature given the progress made at the bargaining table and the generous offers made by Air Transat. We have demonstrated a serious commitment throughout the process and a sincere willingness to reach an agreement by proposing several compromises and improvements that address the pilots’ demands,” the airline said in a statement Sunday.
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