Air Canada has cancelled hundreds of flights and suspended all operations following a massive strike by unionized flight attendants. 

The airline was forced to ground planes after 10,000 staff walked out amid a bitter contract dispute.

The industrial action began on Saturday at around 1am ET and immediately saw all 700 flights per day the airline offers cancelled.

A daily impact of around 130,000 individuals is anticipated with the continuation of the strike. Air Canada holds the position of the foreign carrier with the highest number of flights to the U.S.

Flight attendants are seeking changes which would see them be paid for time spent on the ground between flights and helping passengers board.

The conflict intensified on Friday when the union rejected the airline’s proposal for government-directed arbitration, which would have nullified their strike rights and allowed a third-party mediator to determine the terms of a new contract.

Hugh Pouliot, spokesman for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, confirmed the commencement of the strike after negotiations failed, leading to an immediate halt in operations.

Air Canada said it planned to begin locking flight attendants out of airports as the walkout commenced.

Hundreds of Air Canada flights have been cancelled after the airline suspended all operations due to a strike

Delayed and cancelled Air Canada flights are displayed on the departure board at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval, Quebec, as observed on Friday, August 15, 2025.

Canada’s Federal Jobs Minister, Patty Hajdu, engaged with both the airline and the union on Friday evening, urging them to intensify their efforts to finalize a deal once and for all.

“The lack of substantial progress is unacceptable. Canadians are relying on both parties to exert their utmost efforts,” Hajdu asserted in a statement released on social media.

Pouliot, the spokesman for the union, earlier said the union had a meeting with Hajdu and representatives from Air Canada earlier Friday evening.

‘CUPE has engaged with the mediator to relay our willingness to continue bargaining – despite the fact that Air Canada has not countered our last two offers since Tuesday,’ he said in a email. ‘We´re here to bargain a deal, not to go on strike.’

A complete shutdown will impact about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians a day may be stranded abroad. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.

Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation.

Their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is on the line as they wait to hear from Air Canada about the fate of their Saturday night flight to Nice, France.

The length of the strike is yet to be determined, but Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached.

Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.

The industrial action began on Saturday at around 1am ET and immediately saw almost 700 flights cancelled

Around 130,000 people could be left stranded for every day the strike continues

The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible.

But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full ‘due to the summer travel peak.’

Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.

‘At this point, it´s just a waiting game,’ he said.

Laroche said he was initially upset over the union´s decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages.

‘Their wage is barely livable,’ Laroche said.

Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.

Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren´t in the air.

The airline´s latest offer included a 38 percent increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said ‘would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.’

But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8 percent raise in the first year didn´t go far enough because of inflation.