Air Canada announced Sunday that it had reached an agreement with its pilots, thereby avoiding a strike that threatened to ground most of its flights.
The deal was announced just minutes after a deadline passed that would have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights starting Wednesday.
“Air Canada has reached a four-year interim collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents more than 5,200 pilots,” the company said in a statement after negotiations that lasted 15 months.
On Thursday, groups representing more than 200,000 businesses across Canada urged the government to intervene to prevent a strike they said threatened to ripple through the national economy.
The agreement “recognizes the contributions and professionalism” of its pilots, Air Canada added in the statement, without giving further details on what was agreed.
The pilots’ union, which was pushing for its salaries to be equal to those of its American counterparts, said that the “preliminary agreement will be submitted for ratification by its members.”
“If ratified,” the agreement “will generate additional value of approximately 1.9 billion Canadian dollars (approximately 1.4 billion dollars) for Air Canada pilots” over the period in question.
“It has been an exceptionally long road to reaching this agreement,” said Charlene Huy, president of Air Canada ALPA’s Senior Executive Council (SES), praising the pilots’ “consistent mobilization and united determination.”
“There was also progress in a number of areas,” including compensation, retirement and work rules,” he added.
Air Canada serves 47 countries and carries an average of 110,000 people per day on its 670 flights.
