Air Canada was quick to announce that it has reached agreement with it’s pilots on Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Rouge aircraft. Air Canada and the Airline Pilot’s Association (ALPA) representing Air Canada’s pilots were able to reach agreement after ratification of their collective agreement after a voting period. In this article, we discuss what this means for travellers.

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Air Canada Avoids Strikes: Pilot Collective Agreement Finalized

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Air Canada announced today that the airline has ratified a new collective agreement between Air Canada and the Airline’s Pilot’s Association (ALPA) representing Air Canada’s mainline pilots.

In a press release, Air Canada has announced that its employees and the employer have ratified a collective agreement that will see pilots continue to fly without any further strike activity.

The Highlights:

Highlights of the agreement announced by Air Canada were as follows:

• The term is for 4 years, retro active to September 30, 2023
• The agreement covers more than 5,200 pilots at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge.
• The agreement maintains Air Canada pilots’ position as the best paid in the Canadian commercial air transport industry, while providing the company the stability and flexibility to pursue its growth strategy.

Conversely, the Airline Pilot’s Association (ALPA) union offered this information:

• Voting occured between Oct 1, 2024 – Oct 10, 2024
• The contract offered up to 42% increase over four year term
• The Airline pilots association (ALPA) indicated that 67% of pilots voted in favour of the agreement.
  • We can infer from this, that 33% of it’s pilots voted against the proposed collective agreement.
• The contract is in place immediately, and expires Sept 29, 2027

The contract negotiations were widely covered in national news, as a result of the strike notice that had been previously issued by the Airline Pilot’s Association permitting them to cease Air Canada operations with seventy two hours notice.

What this means for Air Canada travellers:

Air Canada travellers should be pleased that Air Canada has been able to finalize pilot compensation for their Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge pilots.

The Airline Pilot’s Association had previously issued a strike notice, which had the potential to impact up to 110,000 travellers per day.

Now that the Employer and the Employees have reached consensus, the risk of strike interruption to travellers has pretty much fallen to zero for the foreseeable future.

The only collective agreements expiring in the near future are those of the flight attendants on Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Jazz (Express), which expire on December 31, 2025.

As a result, we should have travel stability on Air Canada for the next year, Gate Gourmet catering strikes not withstanding.

What this means for Air Canada’s Pilots:

I have to feel for Air Canada’s pilots. They previously had a ten year collective agreement that saw modest wage increases. As might be expected, the messaging for that collective agreement likely went along the lines of taking minimal wage increases to promote the stability of the airline over a longer term.

One of the risks of a longer collective agreement term is that it’s not usually adjusted throughout the term, unless there happens to be a clause in the collective agreement that allows for a mid term top up adjustment.

There didn’t appear to be such a clause in the past Air Canada agreement. As a result, there ended up being a large disparity in the pilot compensation marketplace throughout North America, compared to what position they were currently remunerated.

In addition, the Air Canada compensation salary band seems to be exceptionally large. The pay bank between an Air Canada narrow body first officer compared to an Air Canada capitan on a wide body seems to be exceptionally large. While I don’t profess to be an expert on aviation consultation.

If you add a large amount of pilot shortages in the market place, involving class leading attractive compensation efforts in the United States, it’s easy to understand why Canadian pilots were feeling short changed.

I think the bigger issue is that 33% of pilots did not vote in favour of the collective agreement. This means that Air Canada essentially has one in three pilots who feel that they are not fairly compensated. This would be a challenge for any Employer to overcome, when a third of your work force isn’t satisfied with their compensation.

My Thoughts: Air Canada Reaches Agreement with its Pilots

Air Canada has reached agreement with its pilots, as represented through the Airline Pilot’s Association. The deal brings together closure of a turbulent period which saw Air Canada’s pilot compensation slip when compared to the marketplace, as a result of a past ten year collective agreement.

Their new collective agreement will result in a 42% wage increase over 4 years. While only 67% of pilots ratified the collective agreement, it can be interpreted that 33% of pilots did not support the collective agreement and were hoping for something better.

Since the pilot’s association was able to get 50.1% in favour of the agreement, this closes a chapter in contract negotiations for the next while. At the very least, this will provide a little stability for Air Canada travellers until the Air Canada flight attendents start negotiations in the winter of 2025.

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What do you make of Air Canada’s collective agreement with their pilots ?

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