Air Transat chief executive Annick Guerard blasted competitor Air Canada for asking the Canadian government to prevent a pilot strike set to begin later this week.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention would be an undeniable advantage to the detriment of other airlines in Canada,” Guerard said during the company’s fiscal-third quarter earnings call on 12 September.
She adds that the Canadian air-travel market is “not a level playing field” and that, since the Covid-19 industry crisis, Transat has been at a “significant disadvantage to Air Canada” with regard to repayment of government loans.
The terms of those loans, which Transat says it has attempted to renegotiate with the federal government, is “mortgaging our ability to attract capital”, she adds.
“The last few weeks we have been discussing with [the government] on a more-frequent basis,” adds chief financial officer Jean-Francois Pruneau. “We have a good alternative for them.”
Earlier in the day, local Canadian media reported that an Air Canada spokesperson said the airline aims to reach a deal with its pilots. “But, if there is no conclusion by Saturday, we ask the government to be ready to intervene to avoid these disruptions for Canadians”, the spokesperson reportedly said.
Air Canada, the largest carrier in the country, said on 9 September it was preparing to suspend “most of its operations” as a pilot strike looms amid ongoing negotiations with union Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) over a new contract for its more than 5,200 pilots. If talks remain deadlocked, beginning on 15 September “either party may issue a 72-hour strike or lock-out notice, which would trigger the carrier’s three-day wind-down plan”, the Montreal-based carrier said at the time.
Negotiations for a new agreement began in June 2023 and entered private mediation in January 2024. In June, as talks dragged on, the union decided to file a notice of dispute and enter conciliation because the two sides were unable to reach a new collective agreement.
Updates on 13 September to clarify that Air Transat has loans with the federal government only.
