Air Canada cancels 50-plus flights Thursday ahead of possible work stoppage
Posted August 14, 2025 2:38 am.
Last Updated August 15, 2025 7:01 am.
Air Canada says it cancelled more than 50 flights on Thursday, impacting more than 11,000 travellers, including more than 19 flights due to what the airline says was “unplanned crew book-offs.”
The country’s largest airline began a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations, with a full pause planned to begin early Saturday morning if it doesn’t reach a last-minute deal with the union.
“This approach will help limit the strike’s impact by allowing as many customers as possible to complete their journeys,” said Air Canada executive vice-president and chief operations officer Mark Nasr.
“Importantly, it will also help facilitate an orderly restart, which, under the best circumstances, will take a full week to complete.”
Air Canada said late Thursday that close to 300 flight attendants had not reported for work, which was twice the usual number, and that resulted in additional cancellations.
Another 500 flights are expected to be cancelled on Friday.
Customers whose flights are cancelled will be offered a full refund. Air Canada has also implemented a goodwill policy, which allows customers to change their travel plans without a fee if they choose to do so.
Nasr said Air Canada will offer alternative travel arrangements on other airlines, including competitors, “wherever possible.”
“However, unfortunately, this being the peak of the summer travel season, our ability to rebook customers on other airlines will be very limited,” he cautioned.
Earlier in the day, a demonstration by more than a dozen members of the union representing Air Canada’s flight attendants prompted the airline to shut down a press conference as tensions between the two sides continue to mount.
Union members dressed in flight attendant uniforms and CUPE T-shirts disrupted the event multiple times. At one point, union members marched in front of the stage where Air Canada executives were seated to answer reporters’ questions, holding signs with messages such as “unpaid work won’t fly” and “poverty wages = unCanadian.” Most then stood to the side of the stage in silence holding their signs, while a few remained in front, directly facing media cameras.
The demonstration prompted Christophe Hennebelle, Air Canada’s vice-president of corporate communications, to address the flight attendants directly.
“I’m asking CUPE, one last time the question: ‘Are you preventing us from continuing with a press conference?'” he asked, before being met with silence.
“Unfortunately, we will have to interrupt this press conference here. I am really sorry about the questions we have not been able to answer.”
It was the latest sign that Air Canada and its flight attendants’ union remain far apart in contract talks, with workers expected to strike Saturday around 1 a.m. as the airline also plans to lock them out.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents around 10,000 flight attendants, has said its main sticking points revolve around wages that have been outpaced by inflation during the course of its previous 10-year contract, along with unpaid labour when planes aren’t in the air.
Its members voted 99.7 per cent in favour of a strike mandate last week. Talks later resumed before the two sides reached an impasse Tuesday.
Air Canada has requested government-directed arbitration, however Ottawa has not indicated whether it will intervene in the dispute.
Earlier this week, the union rejected the airline’s proposal to enter binding arbitration, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on.
Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, said the company has been absent from the bargaining table since Tuesday evening.
“We, however, have never left the bargaining tables. We have and will remain ready to hear the company’s response to our latest offer,” he said.
“But instead of staying at the table, the company has called on the federal government to intervene on their behalf, to interfere with negotiations by taking away our members’ Charter right to free and fair collective bargaining.”
Air Canada disputed that, saying it remains available to continue negotiations.
“We never left the table,” Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Air Canada executive vice-president and chief human resources officer, told reporters.
“We have made offers and responded to every offer CUPE has made, including the last one. We are still available to bargain at any time on the condition that the negotiation has substance.”
