Air Transat to gradually shut down operations over 3 days after union issues strike notice

CanadaIn a statement issued shortly after the mandate was announced by the union, Air Transat called the strike notice “premature.” The airline said there has been progress in negotiations and that it’s made “generous” contract offers.Air carrier’s pilots voted Dec. 2 to give their union the authority to declare a strikeVerity Stevenson · CBC News · Posted: Dec 07, 2025 9:26 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.An Air Transat Airbus A330 approaches for landing in Lisbon just before sunrise on July 22, 2024. Earlier this week, the airline’s pilots voted overwhelmingly to give their union’s governing body the authority to declare a strike. (Armando Franca/The Associated Press)Air Transat says it will gradually shut down operations over the next three days in response to a 72-hour strike mandate issued by the union representing its pilots.In a statement issued shortly after the mandate was announced by the union on Sunday morning, the Montreal-based airline published a statement of its own, calling the strike notice “premature.”Air Transat said there has been progress in contract negotiations and that it’s made “generous” contract offers. Both the union and the airline say they may come to an agreement before a strike, which could begin as early as Wednesday at 3 a.m. ET.”This notice requires the company to proactively implement an action plan and proceed with the gradual and orderly suspension of its operations over the next three days to prevent the consequences of a sudden, unplanned interruption,” the airline said in the statement.Air Transat says it will begin suspending flights on Monday, followed by a “complete suspension” on Tuesday. It will also begin repatriating passengers “to prevent them from being stranded abroad if the strike occurs. The goal is to bring back everyone to their point of origin,” the airline said.According to online flight radar tracker FlightConnections.com, Air Transat services 10 domestic destinations and 63 international destinations in 33 countries. The airline itself says its flights are mainly to Europe, the Caribbean, the east coast of the United States, South America and North Africa.Air Line Pilots Association members, from left, Capt. Ronan O’Donoghue, Capt. Guy Chevalier and first officer Samer El Husseini talk at the Air Transat pilot strike centre in Montreal on Wednesday, following a 99 per cent vote in favour of a strike mandate. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) said the airline had left it “no choice” but to issue the strike mandate.”Months of unproductive bargaining ends now. If we cannot reach an agreement, management will be responsible for every canceled flight and stranded passengers,” said Capt. Bradley Small, chair of the Air Transat Master Executive Council, which is represented by the ALPA.Small said that “there is still time to avoid a strike” but that unless significant progress is made before Wednesday, “we will strike if that’s what it takes to achieve a modern contract.”Negotiations between the ALPA and the airline began in January, three months before the collective agreement was set to expire. At issue are industry-standard pay, benefits, work rules and job security to replace their current 2015 agreement.With files from Jenna Benchetrit