Air Canada deal avoids shutdown, brings relief to passengers and business groups

Travellers, business groups and politicians expressed fervent relief on Sunday after Air Canada and the union representing thousands of its pilots negotiated a new labour deal and averted a disruptive, countrywide shutdown.

Travellers, business groups and politicians expressed fervent relief on Sunday after Air Canada and the union representing thousands of its pilots negotiated a new labour deal and averted a disruptive, countrywide shutdown.

Canada's largest air carrier announced shortly after midnight Sunday that it had reached a tentative, four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association.

The deal, reached after more than a year of contract negotiations, ended the possibility that the 5,200 Air Canada pilots represented by the union could be locked out or walk off the job. Any such move would have forced the airline to suspend nearly all operations, a prospect that raised concerns among business groups, passengers and even the prime minister.

At Toronto's Pearson International Airport, travellers preparing for Sunday departures were breathing a sigh of relief.

“I wasn’t looking forward to an Air Canada strike, because I booked this ticket like a month and a half back, so a last-minute change would have been pretty bad," said Arjun Pandit, who was heading to New York City for work. "It would have halted the entire trip."

Donna Holloway, who had booked a connecting flight to Chicago, said she hadn't made any back-up plans and would have tried to change her flight at the airport if a work stoppage had been announced. She received an email Sunday morning saying her flight was still scheduled. “I was really confident that they would settle the dispute and so far I’ve been happy," she said.

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement shortly after the deal was announced praising both sides for avoiding a work stoppage.