Canada's largest air carrier announced shortly after midnight Sunday that it had reached a tentative, four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association.
Donna Holloway, who had booked a connecting flight to Chicago, said she hadn't made any back-up plans and would have tried to change her flight at the airport if a work stoppage had been announced. She received an email Sunday morning saying her flight was still scheduled. “I was really confident that they would settle the dispute and so far I’ve been happy," she said.
"The new agreement recognizes the contributions and professionalism of Air Canada's pilot group, while providing a framework for the future growth of the airline," the carrier said in a statement. "The consistent engagement and unified determination of our pilots have been the catalyst for achieving this contract," said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA MEC.
The pilots' union argued Air Canada continued to post record profits while expecting pilots to accept below-market compensation. It had also said about a quarter of pilots report taking on second jobs, with about 80 per cent of those doing so out of necessity.