By Christopher Reynolds
Transat A.T. Inc. says it steered clear of a strike after reaching a tentative deal with its pilots on Tuesday evening.
The travel company, which owns leisure airline Air Transat, had been cancelling flights and winding down operations ahead of the possible work stoppage, affecting thousands of travellers.
Neither the company nor the union representing some 750 Air Transat pilots released details of the tentative agreement.
Annick Guérard, president and CEO of Transat, said the airline “greatly preferred” to avoid the threat of a strike.
“We are aware that this period has created significant uncertainty, and we extend our sincerest apologies to our customers whose flights were disrupted in recent days,” she said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“Our priority now is to quickly restore our operations and deliver on our commitment to provide service that meets our standards.”
The Air Line Pilots Association was aiming for a new contract that boosts wages, job security and quality of life following big gains for aviators at Air Canada and WestJet over the past two years.
Capt. Bradley Small, chair of the Air Transat ALPA Master Executive Council, said the current pilot contract lags behind industry standards in Canada and North America.
“We believe this new agreement meets the needs of today’s profession, consistent with collective agreements other ALPA-represented pilot groups are signing with their employers,” Small said in a statement.
Union members are expected to vote on the agreement in the coming days.
Transat’s flight schedule was severely disrupted this week after it began to cancel flights in anticipation of a labour standoff.
The showdown came at a particularly fraught time for Transat as it struggles to manage a large debt load, fend off a coup attempt from an activist investor and turn an annual profit for the first time since 2018.
Last week, media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau, who owns 9.5 per cent of Transat — its second-biggest shareholder — demanded a board shakeup and strategic overhaul.
The proposal would see the head of telecommunications giant Quebecor Inc.’s right-hand man there replace Transat chairwoman Susan Kudzman, with Péladeau also gaining a seat at the table.
By Tuesday afternoon, Transat had cancelled more than a dozen flights for that day and the following one.
The cancelled trips included sun destinations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Spain as well as London and Paris. All 18 flights were slated to either take off or land in Toronto or Montreal.
Air Transat said it had arranged seven extra flights Monday and Tuesday to ferry some passengers back early from their vacations.
The carrier’s active fleet of nearly 40 planes carries tens of thousands of passengers on more than 500 flights each week.
The Air Line Pilots Association issued a 72-hour strike notice on Sunday.
Transat responded that cancellations would ramp up ahead of a potential strike or lockout, which could have kicked off as early as 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
