WestJet has started to cancel flights as talks with the pilots’ union remained at a “critical impasse,†the company said in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, May 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
CALGARY – WestJet and its pilots union say they have reached a last-minute deal, averting a strike ahead of the May long weekend.
The airline had grounded the bulk of its fleet Thursday, including for its Swoop subsidiary, parking their 130 planes at airports from Vancouver to Halifax and leaving thousands of travellers in limbo across the country.
The shutdown affected dozens of routes within Canada and to the U.S. and overseas, while flights at the WestJet Encore regional service and the WestJet-owned Sunwing Airlines were unaffected.
Some 1,800 pilots at WestJet and Swoop had been poised to walk off the job as of 3 a.m. mountain time after the Air Line Pilots Association served a strike notice Monday.
WestJet cancelled more than 100 flights on Thursday after talks with the union hit what CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech dubbed a critical impasse.
Bernard Lewall, who heads the union’s WestJet contingent, had said the workers’ issues revolved around pay, job security and scheduling, with pilots earning roughly half of what some of their U.S. counterparts make.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2023.
