Air Canada begins to cancel flights before a possible strike by flight attendants star-news.press/wp

Air Canada began canceling flights on Thursday before a possible strike by the flight attendants that may affect hundreds of thousands of travelers.

It threatens the full closure of the country’s largest flight in the country by affecting about 130,000 people per day.

Airlines He said In a post on social media, nearly 300 anti -aircraft, “twice as usual”, did not provide on Thursday night.

“This will lead to an additional cancellation,” the airline said. “We regret the inconvenience to customers.”

Mark Nasr, chief operational officer at Air Canada, said that the airline began in the gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge.

“All flights will be stopped by Saturday in the early morning,” he said.

Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an organized restart, “which will take place for a whole week in the best conditions.”

He said that the first group of cancellation that involves several dozens of flights will affect the long foreign flights that were due to their departure on Thursday night. “By tomorrow evening, we expect to abolish flights that affect more than 100,000 customers,” Nasr said. “By the time we reach one o’clock in the morning on Saturday morning, we will be on a complete basis.”

He said that the grounding would affect 25,000 Canadians a day outside who have been cut off. They expect 500 trips to be canceled by the end of Friday.

The Federation, which represents about 10,000 Canadian Airlines present, issued a 72 -hour notice on Wednesday. If an agreement is not reached or the government does not interfere, the flight attendants will start on Saturday August 16.

In response to the strike notification, the airline issued a locking notice.

Nasr said that customers whose flights are canceled will be qualified to recover full funds, and said that the airline has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign transport companies to provide alternative travel options “as far as possible.

“We regret affect the turmoil on our customers, our stakeholders and the societies that we serve,” Michael Rouko, CEO of Air Canada, said in a previous statement.

On Tuesday, Air Canada said it had reached a dead end with the union, as the two sides remained far away from the contract talks. Al -Ittihad said that its main returning points revolve around what it calls “poverty wages” to flight attendants and unpaid workers when the planes are not in the air, while Air Canada said it has provided a 38 % increase in total wages over a period of four years, in addition to other benefits.

“Despite our efforts, Air Canada refused to address our basic issues,” Al -Ittihad said in an online compromise update.

The Federation rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process, saying it preferred to negotiate a deal that its members can vote on.