The strike led the carrier to cancel more than 800 flights and park 130 aircraft at 13 airports across the country
WestJet has reached a deal with its mechanics to end a strike that had disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of travellers over the Canada Day long weekend.
In a news release on its website, WestJet said there will still be flight disruptions in the week ahead as its planes are brought back into service.
“The damage to Canadians and our airline is massive, a swift resolution was necessary; we take no victory laps on this outcome but will sleep better tonight knowing further harm has been prevented,” airline president Diederik Pen said in the release, which was posted late Sunday.
In its own news release, the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association urged its members to return to work immediately pending a vote on the temporary agreement.
“We believe this outcome would not have been possible without the strike, but we do regret the disruption and inconvenience it has caused the travelling public over the Canada Day holiday period,” the union said in its statement.
“We are pleased the strike lasted only 48 hours and that service can now return to normal.
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan posted on X, saying “Canadians’ patience having been worn too thin. Collective bargaining is the responsibility of the parties. The responsibility of the government is to facilitate and mediate that bargaining. The parties finally did their jobs.”
Some 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, had walked off the job on Friday evening despite a directive for binding arbitration from the labour minister.
Since Thursday, WestJet had cancelled 829 flights scheduled between then and Monday — the busiest travel weekend of the season _ the carrier said.
The vast majority of Sunday’s trips were called off as WestJet pared down its 180-plane fleet to 32 active aircraft and topped the global list for cancellations among major airlines over the weekend.