Air Canada provided the following updates on its ongoing negotiations for a new collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents Air Canada’s more than 5,200 pilots.

September 15, 2024: Air Canada and ALPA Reach Tentative Agreement on a New Four-Year Contract

September 12, 2024: Air Canada Urges Federal Government to Direct Arbitration to Avert Disruption for Travellers

September 9, 2024: Air Canada Prepares for Orderly Shutdown to Mitigate Customer Impact Resulting from Labour Disruption

September 9, 2024: Air Canada has worked hard and in good faith over 14 months to reach a new collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents Air Canada’s more than 5,200 pilots. Here is a timeline of the current round of collective bargaining. Detailed updates can be found below.

• On June 9, 2023, ALPA elected to trigger bargaining one year early in the 10-year agreement, as it was allowed to do because certain contractual benchmarks related to fleet growth had not been met by then due to the pandemic.

• From June until December 2023, the parties held meetings allowing them to understand each other’s priorities and to develop and share proposals.
• In January 2024, following these discussions, Air Canada and ALPA agreed to a mediation protocol that created a framework for further constructive bargaining with the help of an experienced mediator, Mr. William Kaplan. Significant progress was achieved through this 5-month process, but a complete agreement was not reached.

• On June 1, 2024, ALPA notified Air Canada it had decided to end the voluntary mediation protocol and file for conciliation under federal law.

• On June 28, 2024, federal conciliators were appointed further to ALPA’s filing.

• On August 22, 2024, ALPA announced the results of a strike vote, with pilots voting in favour of job action.

• From June 2024 to August 2024, the parties met regularly with the federal conciliators and made further progress.
• On August 27, 2024, the 60-day conciliation period expired without an agreement being reached. This started a 21-day, cooling-off period, after which a strike or lock-out could be triggered with 72-hour advance notice.

• Since September 3, 2024, the parties have reconvened with the support of the federal conciliators, now acting as mediators.
• On Friday, September 13, 2024, if agreement is not reached with ALPA by then, Air Canada will need to start some winddown activities, including the cancelation of some holiday packages and the grounding of some aircraft.
• On Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 00h01 EDT, ALPA and Air Canada will be in a legal position to serve a 72-hour notice of strike or lock-out. If such notice is served, Air Canada would begin an orderly winddown of its operations.

• Wednesday, September 18, 2024 is the earliest day when a strike or lock-out could begin.

August 27, 2024: Air Canada Comments on the End of Federal Conciliation in Negotiations with Air Line Pilots Association

Air Canada today issued the following update in its ongoing contract negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Air Canada's intention remains to reach a negotiated settlement with its pilots, one that recognizes their professionalism and contributions to the airline. During the talks, there has been significant progress and the three-week cooling off period gives the parties more than sufficient time to address any outstanding issues. Air Canada is fully committed to bargaining meaningfully throughout the period. 

However, certainty about their travel plans is important to customers. For this reason, Air Canada has introduced a goodwill policy to give all customers flexibility with imminent travel plans. Starting today, customers who have purchased travel on Air Canada flights for the period immediately preceding and after the end of the cooling off period on September 17, 2024, can change any travel already purchased at no additional cost.

Goodwill Rebooking Policy

Changes can be made online at www.aircanada.com, through the Air Canada mobile app, a travel agent, or by calling an Air Canada Contact Centre (although wait times may be elevated). The policy allows customers holding bookings on any fare type with travel between September 15 and 23, 2024, to:

A) rebook to any other Air Canada flight(s) with the same origin and destination up to November 30, 2024.  Change fees and any other fees or fare difference will be waived, meaning such changes can be made at no cost for customers who choose to travel the same route in the same cabin.

or

B) cancel their flight and retain the residual value on a future travel credit. Refunds will be available as per fare rules for customers with refundable tickets; for customers with non-refundable tickets, refunds are not available as flights are scheduled to operate as normal.

or

C) cancel their flight and rebook travel for after November 30, in which case change fees will be waived but the customer will have to pay the fare difference, if any.

The policy applies to all Air Canada operated flights, including Air Canada mainline, Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz or PAL Airlines, and Air Canada Vacations (an additional fee may apply for hotels). It is important to remember that Air Canada Express flights, operated by Jazz or PAL Airlines, are not operated by Air Canada pilots and therefore will not be impacted by the end of the cooling-off period.

Additionally, to give customers with special requests visibility, certain special services will be temporarily unavailable. These include services such as the Unaccompanied Minor Program, special request baggage services for items such as bicycles and hunting equipment, and the Meet and Assist Program in Japan. More details for customers are available at www.aircanada.com/action and for Air Canada Vacations customers at https://vacations.aircanada.com/en/travel-advisories.

For more information about Air Canada's ongoing contract negotiations with the ALPA, please see https://media.aircanada.com/labour-relations 

August 22, 2024: Air Canada's statement on Air Canada pilots strike vote results

Air Canada acknowledged today the result of Air Canada pilots’ vote in favour of a potential strike, should the company not reach an agreement through the ongoing negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Such a vote is a normal step in a negotiation process and does not mean that any disruption will take place. In fact, a strike cannot take place before the end of the current conciliation period, followed by a 21-day cooling-off period. For more information on the bargaining process please see https://media.aircanada.com/Background-on-negotiation-process

Air Canada remains committed to the bargaining process and will continue to work towards a fair and equitable collective agreement with ALPA that recognizes the contributions of our pilots and supports the competitiveness and long-term growth of our company.

For media, a downloadable b-roll version of the statement from Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Public Affairs at Air Canada, is available here.

June 28, 2024: Federal Conciliator appointed

Air Canada welcomes the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service's assistance in helping us achieve a new collective agreement with our pilot group. As stated by ALPA, over the past twelve months of negotiations, we have already reached important agreements on many items. We now look forward to the association’s response to our remaining proposals so that we can come to an amicable final agreement. One that recognizes our pilots’ valued contributions to Air Canada and allows them to progress quickly as our airline continues to grow. 

The federally mandated conciliation process will occur over the coming months, so customers can continue to book and travel on Air Canada with full confidence. For more information please see Air Canada - Labour Relations

June 1, 2024: ALPA announces intent to file for conciliation

Air Canada today provided the following comment in response to the announcement by the Air Line Pilots Association’s (ALPA), that it intends to seek Federal Government assisted conciliation in their ongoing contract negotiations. ALPA has notified Air Canada of its decision to terminate the voluntary bargaining protocol under which the parties have been negotiating since January 2024 (see below for details) and will file for conciliation when the 14-day notice period is expired. 

Air Canada has worked hard and in good faith to reach a new collective agreement with ALPA under the bargaining protocol and the talks conducted under the bargaining protocol led to significant progress. Despite ALPA’s decision to terminate that mediated process, Air Canada remains committed to achieve a fair, negotiated agreement with ALPA that will confirm its position as the leading employer of choice for Canadian pilots. Air Canada will pursue this objective over the next several months under the normal bargaining process set out under the Canada Labour Code. For this reason, customers can continue to book and travel with confidence on Air Canada. 

Under the Labour Code, a party seeking conciliation must first file a notice seeking conciliation. There is then generally a period of up to 15 days before a conciliator is appointed, after which conciliated negotiations will continue, typically for a period of 60 days. If no agreement is reached, this is followed by a 21-day cooling-off period.

For more information on the bargaining process please see https://media.aircanada.com/Background-on-negotiation-process.

February 15, 2024: Agreement on a bargaining protocol

Air Canada today provided the following update on its ongoing negotiations for a new collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents Air Canada’s more than 5,000 pilots.

We are pleased to have agreed in January on a bargaining protocol with ALPA that creates a framework for continued, constructive bargaining between the parties. Both sides committed to working with an experienced mediator, Bill Kaplan. This gives Air Canada customers certainty and the ability to book with full confidence for the important summer travel period when many Canadians are enjoying their hard-earned vacations.

The protocol agreement between ALPA and Air Canada is also beneficial to all employee and other stakeholder groups, as our business will to continue operating normally as we work toward a new contract with our pilot group.

Air Canada remains committed to reaching a fair and equitable collective agreement with ALPA that recognizes the contributions of our pilots and supports the competitiveness and long-term growth of our company. We are confident that, with the assistance of a mediator freely chosen and agreed upon by both parties, we can achieve a settlement that is positive for everyone.

Under the protocol agreement, to facilitate the bargaining process both sides have agreed not to file for conciliation. Should an agreement not be reached by June 1, 2024, negotiations may continue but either party will also have the option to notify the other of their intent to terminate the protocol with a 14-day notice period. When that period has expired, the protocol will be terminated and either party can file for government assisted conciliation. The protocol may also be terminated if the mediator declares that the parties have reached an impasse, or by mutual agreement between the parties. Our goal remains to provide our pilots with an improved contract as early as possible by achieving a freely negotiated collective agreement during this mediation process.

Under the Canada Labour Code, a party seeking conciliation must first file a notice of dispute and there is then a period of up to 15 days before a conciliator is appointed, after which negotiations will continue, with typically a 60-day conciliation period, followed if no agreement is reached at this point by a 21-day cooling off period. For more information on this process, please see https://media.aircanada.com/Background-on-negotiation-process

September 27, 2023: Expiry of the existing collective agreement

Air Canada remains engaged in productive discussions with ALPA. Although our existing collective agreement expires September 29, 2023, this is a normal part of the bargaining process. Our contract’s provisions remain in effect, and we continue to operate our airline as usual. We are committed to reaching a fair, negotiated settlement with our pilot group.

For information on the bargaining process and timelines please see: https://media.aircanada.com/Background-on-negotiation-process