Air Transat pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) have tentatively agreed to a new five-year contract, avoiding a strike that could have started on 10 December.
The Canadian leisure carrier had begun gradually winding down operations over the previous two days in anticipation of a potential strike, cancelling a handful of flights out of Toronto and Montreal.
That outcome was avoided as the parties reached an 11th-hour agreement, which is pending union ratification. Air Transat’s 750 union-represented pilots are expected to vote on the deal in “coming days”.
The airline is now working to restore full operations.
“We are pleased to have finally reached a tentative agreement with the union representing our pilots, marking a complete overhaul of their collective agreement,” says Annick Guerard, Air Transat’s chief executive. “We would have greatly preferred to avoid the threat of a strike, which forced us to modify our operations.”
Transat said on 7 December it received a strike notice from ALPA after union members voted “overwhelmingly” to authorise a strike last week.
Air Transat and ALPA have been negotiating a new deal for most of the year as pilots “have been frustrated flying under a decade-old, outdated collective agreement”, according to the union. “This was compounded by months of stall tactics by Air Transat management.”
Bradley Small, chair of the Air Transat ALPA master executive council, says the old contract ”lags significantly 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,” he says.
Air Transat previously disclosed it had offered pilots a 59% pay increase over five years. Terms of the new agreement have not been disclosed by either party.
