Air Transat has listed six flights scheduled for today as cancelled on its website : S938 (YUL–CUN), TS939 (CUN–YUL), TS426 (YYZ–CUN), TS427 (CUN–YYZ), TS498 (YUL–PUJ), and TS499 (PUJ–YUL).
The airline was scheduled to operate 30 flights today, and 47 on Wednesday, according to aviation data company Cirium.
Robert Kokonis, President and Managing Director of Toronto-based AirTrav Inc., says the process of "pulling the flight schedule down" is already underway at Transat, with more scheduled departures in line for cancellations.
That includes transatlantic operations: 09DEC flights from Pearson to Manchester at 7:15 p.m., Lisbon at 8:00 p.m., and London Gatwick at 9:35 p.m. on Airbus 330s. "Those are the transatlantic routes Transat still flies at this time of year," says Kokonis.
Moving forward with those operations comes with a big risk.
"The strike would begin at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, but if they send the aircraft overseas, Cinderella's chariots could turn into pumpkins," says Kokonis.
"If they send an aircraft to London Gatwick and there's a strike, the plane is now stranded overseas. And then when you want to restart the airline, you have to get the crew back over to London and make sure applied maintnance staff are on-site."
Several flights to the Caribbean from YYZ and YUL took off this morning, including to Punta Cana and Cancun on Transat’s widebody aircraft. "I assume there was nobody on board," says Kokonis.
Or at least very few passengers. On the return trips, those larger aircraft will be full, repatriating travellers back to Canada from these destinations.
While both sides noted “progress” yesterday (08DEC), negotiations between Transat and ALPA, which represents 750 Air Transat pilots, are ticking down to the 11th hour.
On 07DEC, Air Transat proposed a five-year deal offering an average 59% wage increase across pay scales along with “major improvements” to working conditions. Reportedly wanting wage parity with Air Canada pilots, ALPA rejected the deal and issued a 72-hour strike notice.
Pilots are set to walk off the job starting at 3 a.m. on 10DEC.
