WestJet flight cancellations escalate, affecting over 100,000 travelers as Canadian airline strike continues
A strike by plane mechanics forced Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet, to cancel hundreds more flights on Sunday, disrupting the plans of approximately 110,000 travelers over the Canada Day long weekend and prompting the airline to urge federal government intervention.
Around 680 workers, responsible for daily inspections and repairs essential to airline operations, walked off the job on Friday evening despite a binding arbitration directive from the labor minister.
“WestJet is in receipt of a binding arbitration order and awaits urgent clarity from the government that a strike and arbitration cannot exist simultaneously; this is something they have committed to address and like all Canadians we are waiting,” stated WestJet Airlines President Diederik Pen on Sunday.
Since Thursday, WestJet has canceled 829 flights scheduled between then and Monday, the busiest travel weekend of the season. Most of Sunday’s flights were canceled as WestJet reduced its 180-plane fleet to 32 active aircraft, topping the global list for cancellations among major airlines over the weekend.
Trevor Temple-Murray was one of the many customers scrambling to rebook their trips after cancellations were announced with less than a day’s notice.
“We’ll just have to wait it out,” said Temple-Murray, who was in a car with his wife and 2-year-old son in the parking lot of Victoria, British Columbia, airport, trying to get a flight to Calgary. Their 6:05 p.m. flight was canceled, and they were unsure if the 7 a.m. flight the next day would proceed.
“There are a lot of angry people in there,” Temple-Murray said, pointing at the terminal.
Nearby, Grade 10 exchange student Marina Cebrian, who was supposed to return to Spain early Sunday, faced three flight cancellations and wouldn’t be home until Tuesday.
“It’s distressing,” she said. “I was supposed to be at home today, like seven hours ago, but I’m not.”
Both WestJet and the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association accused each other of not negotiating in good faith. The union prefers a deal reached through bargaining rather than arbitration.
The union’s wage demands would cost WestJet less than $8 million Canadian (US$5.6 million) more than the company’s current offer for the first year of the collective agreement, the first contract between the two sides. The union acknowledged these gains would surpass compensation for industry colleagues across Canada and align more with U.S. counterparts.
WestJet has offered a 12.5% wage hike in the first year of the contract and a compounded wage increase of 23.5% over the remaining 5 1/2-year term.