MONTREAL — Air Transat pilots set the stage for a strike as early as Wednesday morning, issuing a 72-hour notice to the struggling company on the cusp of the busy holiday travel season.
The Air Line Pilots Association said Sunday it filed the strike notice after failing to find common ground following nearly a year of negotiations with travel company Transat A.T. Inc., which owns the leisure airline.
“There is still time to avoid a strike but unless significant progress is made at the bargaining table, we will strike if that’s what it takes to achieve a modern contract,” said Bradley Small, who chairs the union’s Air Transat contingent, in a release.
Transat said it is working around the clock to reach a deal but that flight cancellations will start to kick in Monday and ramp up over the following two days.
The airline, which flies mainly to destinations in Europe and the Caribbean, will inform customers of cancelled flights “and the solutions put in place to assist them,” Transat said.
Both sides accused the other of failing to pull its weight in the bargaining process.
Small said that no pilot wants a work stoppage, “but Air Transat management has left us no choice.”
Transat human resources chief Julie Lamontagne replied that the union has shown “no openness” while also pointing to “progress made at the bargaining table.”
“It is regrettable that the union has expressed such indifference toward Transat, its employees and clients by choosing the path of a strike at this time of year — a reckless decision that does not reflect the state of negotiations,” she said in a release.
The labour standoff comes at a particularly fraught time for the Montreal-based company as it struggles to manage a large debt load and turn an annual profit for the first time since 2018.
At the same time, the board of directors is trying to fend off an attempted coup by media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau. Last week the head of telecommunications giant Quebecor Inc., who also owns 9.5 per cent of Transat — its second-biggest shareholder — demanded a board shakeup and strategic overhaul. The proposal would see the billionaire’s right-hand man at Quebecor replace Transat chairwoman Susan Kudzman, with Péladeau also gaining a seat at the table.
On Sunday, Transat said it has offered aviators a 59 per cent salary hike over five years — roughly half in the first year — and major improvements in working conditions.
“They’re asking more than what we offered over five years for just year one,” claimed spokeswoman Andréan Gagné in a phone interview.
The union says it wants the new collective agreement, which would replace one from 2015, to shore up job security and improve working conditions, compensation and quality of life.
In its latest annual report last year, Transat noted that the aviation industry is facing pressure from airline pilot unions amid an ongoing labour shortage.
“The corporation will have to offer working conditions that are competitive with agreements recently concluded in the industry, or many pilots may join competitors,” the document stated.
Last year, Air Canada’s 5,400 pilots negotiated a cumulative wage hike of nearly 42 per cent over four years. The increase outstripped major gains won the year before by pilots at the three biggest U.S. airlines, where pay bumps ranged between 34 and 40 per cent — albeit starting from a higher baseline.
In 2023, WestJet pilots notched 24 per cent pay bump over four years after in a deal that was reached hours ahead of the strike deadline.
Last week the pilots voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike if necessary, with ballots cast by 98 per cent of eligible pilots.
A 21-day cooling off period that followed conciliation talks ends on Dec. 10, when the workers can strike or management can impose a lockout.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
