Air Transat to start halting flights Monday after pilots issue 72-hour strike notice

Air Transat pilots set the stage for a strike as early as Wednesday morning, issuing a 72-hour notice to the struggling company on the cusp of the busy holiday travel season.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Sunday it filed the strike notice after failing to find common ground following nearly a year of negotiations with travel company Transat A.T. Inc., which owns the leisure airline.

"We've been literally locked down here for a week, and some progress has been made," said Bradley Small, who chairs the union's Air Transat contingent, in a phone interview from the bargaining venue in Montreal.

"It's when we start hammering out the compensation side of it — that's where things have become very, very difficult.

"Unless significant progress is made at the bargaining table, we will strike if that’s what it takes to achieve a modern contract,” he added in a release.

The carrier, which flies mainly to destinations in Europe and the Caribbean, will inform customers of cancelled flights "and the solutions put in place to assist them," Transat said.

The nearly 40 active planes in Air Transat's fleet ferry tens of thousands of passengers on more than 500 flights each week, according to figures from aviation data platforms Cirium and ch-aviation.

Both sides accused the other of failing to pull its weight in the bargaining process.

"They've been less than present," Small, who speaks for some 750 pilots, told The Canadian Press.

Transat human resources chief Julie Lamontagne said the union has shown "no openness" while also pointing to "progress made at the bargaining table."

"It is regrettable that the union has expressed such indifference toward Transat, its employees and clients by choosing the path of a strike at this time of year — a reckless decision that does not reflect the state of negotiations," she said in a release.

The labour standoff comes at a particularly fraught time for the Montreal-based company as it struggles to manage a large debt load and turn an annual profit for the first time since 2018.

"It's never good timing, but especially at this time of the year — we're leaning into the holiday season," said Transat spokeswoman Andréan Gagné in a phone interview.

John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, stressed the high cost of a potential strike near the height of Christmas travel.

"This is the peak of the peak. The planes are full and the fares are very high," he said.

At the same time, the board of directors is trying to fend off an attempted coup by media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau. Last week the head of telecommunications giant Quebecor Inc., who also owns 9.5 per cent of Transat — its second-biggest shareholder — demanded a board shakeup and strategic overhaul. The proposal would see the billionaire's right-hand man at Quebecor replace Transat chairwoman Susan Kudzman, with Péladeau also gaining a seat at the table.

On Sunday, Péladeau seized on the strike notice to press his case, criticizing the board for a "deplorable situation" and making an unsolicited offer to mediate between workers and management.

"The board of directors is once again demonstrating its inability to manage fragile financial resources, while extraordinary sums are being paid out on professional and consulting fees of all kinds," he said in a release from his investment firm Financière Outremont Inc.

Transat said it has offered pilots a 59 per cent salary hike over five years and major improvements in working conditions.

The union's Bradley Small called that figure "very inaccurate” and a product of "creative accounting."

The pilots say they want the new collective agreement, which would replace one from 2015, to improve compensation, job security, working conditions and quality of life.

In its latest annual report last year, Transat noted that the aviation industry is facing pressure from airline pilot unions amid an ongoing labour shortage.

"The corporation will have to offer working conditions that are competitive with agreements recently concluded in the industry, or many pilots may join competitors," the document stated.

Small said that "since post-COVID" Air Transat has lost more than 180 aviators, or one in four, many to other airlines with more lucrative contracts.

Last year, Air Canada's 5,400 pilots negotiated a cumulative wage hike of nearly 42 per cent over four years. The increase outstripped major gains won the year before by pilots at the three biggest U.S. airlines, where pay bumps ranged between 34 and 40 per cent — albeit starting from a higher baseline.

In 2023, WestJet pilots notched 24 per cent pay bump over four years after in a deal that was reached hours ahead of the strike deadline.

Last week the pilots voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike if necessary, with ballots cast by 98 per cent of eligible pilots.

A 21-day cooling off period that followed conciliation talks ends on Dec. 10, when the workers can strike or management can impose a lockout.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes