Air Canada avoids shutdown with new deal with pilots union

Canada’s largest air carrier negotiated a new deal with the union representing thousands of its pilots Sunday avoiding a countrywide strike.

Air Canada announced just after midnight Sunday that it had reached a tentative four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association.

The deal prevented a work stoppage that could have begun as early as Wednesday for Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge.

The airline says any customers that changed their original plans to fly between Sept. 15 and 23 to a different date before Nov. 30, can change their booking back to their original flight in the same cabin at no cost, space providing.

The pilot’s union released a statement after the announcement reading that the new deal, if ratified, will generate an additional $1.9 billion for more than 5,400 of their pilots.

“This agreement, if ratified by the pilot group, would officially put an end to our outdated and stale decade-old, ten-year framework,” says chair of the Air Canada ALPA MEC Charlene Hudy in that statement.

With files from the Canadian Press

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