Travelling soon? Why you should ‘expect less pain at the airports’ this summer

With a possible WestJet strike likely averted thanks to the federal government's intervention, here's what travellers heading to the airport this summer should expect.

An averted strike at WestJet and fresh data showing punctual performances from major airports and airlines in Canada bode well for travellers gearing up for summer getaways, analysts say.

WestJet warned this week that 250,000 Canadians could have their Canada Day long weekend plans disrupted due to a looming strike among engineers at the Calgary-based airliner.

While dozens of flights were cancelled in the lead-up to the Friday evening deadline, the federal government stepped in late Thursday to order the parties into binding arbitration, quashing the possibility of a long weekend work stoppage.

Duncan Dee, former chief operating officer at Air Canada, told Global News Morning on Friday the move came just before WestJet would have had to announce sweeping cancellations for the days ahead, marking a turbulent start to the busy summer travel season.

Dee said that with the federal government’s order, WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association should be “well on their way” to a new collective agreement.

“We should hopefully see some labour peace at WestJet at least that will take us through the peak of the summer,” he said.  “I think we’re generally smooth skies ahead.”

Aviation analytics firm Cirium meanwhile released data on Friday showing what it called “solid” on-time performances among all major Canadian air carriers this spring.

Mike Malik, chief marketing officer at Cirium, told Global News that Canada’s air carriers, which have sometimes ranked poorly when compared to other airlines in North America, have so far been showing up for travellers in 2024.