WestJet, Canada’s second-largest passenger airline, has begun canceling flights and briefly halting flights throughout its itinerary to maintain its busiest routes staffed forward of a possible pilots strike. The pilots union issued a 72-hour strike discover to WestJet on Monday after virtually a 12 months of wage negotiations. If sufficient pilots stroll out tomorrow, WestJet must shut down operations.
WestJet acknowledged that it is going to be grounding most of its Boeing 737 and 787 fleet however didn’t specify which routes can be impacted. This choice will seemingly have an effect on 1000’s of passengers over Canada’s Victoria Day vacation weekend. As of immediately, the Calgary-based service introduced that 104 flights had been canceled. WestJet stays on the negotiating desk however firmly locations the blame on the pilots for the state of affairs.
WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech stated in a press release:
“We are extremely disheartened to find ourselves in a place where we have to activate our contingency plan and subsequent takedown of our network as a result of the strike notice served by ALPA and their inability to accept a reasonable offer. We deeply regret the disruption this will have on the travel plans of our guests and the communities and businesses that rely on our critical air service. We remain at a critical impasse with the union and have been left with no choice but to begin taking the painful steps of preparing for the reality of a work stoppage.”
The discover issued by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), the union representing WestJet’s pilots, talked about that the service is within the midst of an worker exodus resulting from substandard pay and dealing situations. ALPA claims {that a} WestJet Group pilot leaves to fly for a competitor each 18 hours. There is a chance {that a} deal will be reached earlier than the three:00 a.m. deadline in Calgary, however WestJet passengers ought to concentrate on this case.
Source: jalopnik.com