Air Transat and the labor union representing its pilots have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, averting a previously announced strike that forced the airline to cancel flights earlier this week.
The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents over 750 Air Transat pilots, did not provide specifics about wages and benefits but did say the deal will help make up ground lost under the current contract, which it described as “outdated.”
The pilots will vote on the proposal “in the coming days,” ALPA said.
“Our current pilot contract lags significantly behind industry standards in Canada and North America,” Captain Bradley Small, chair of the Air Transat ALPA Master Executive Council, said in a news release. “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.”
The union and Air Transat negotiated for 11 months before settling on terms.
On Sunday, before the deal was reached, ALPA issued a 72-hour strike notice, and the airline began suspending flights in preparation for a full shutdown.
Air Transat officials slammed the move as “reckless” and said the two sides had been making good progress in recent weeks. It also criticized ALPA for planning a strike so close to the holidays.
According to its statement at the time, the airline was offering a 59% salary increase over five years and “major improvements” to pilots’ working conditions.
The new deal was reached on Tuesday, before the strike began.
“We are pleased to have finally reached a tentative agreement with the union representing our pilots, marking a complete overhaul of their collective agreement,” Air Transat President and CEO Annick Guérard said in a statement on Tuesday. “We would have greatly preferred to avoid the threat of a strike, which forced us to modify our operations. We are aware that this period has created significant uncertainty, and we extend our sincerest apologies to our customers whose flights were disrupted in recent days.”
Air Transat is headquartered in Montreal. It offers connections between Canada and Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, and West Africa.
