More than three-quarters of WestJet airline flights were canceled on Sunday, according to data from the FlightAware site, while the surprise strike by its mechanics continues during the busiest weekend of the season.
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In total, Canada’s second largest carrier said 832 flights have been canceled since the company anticipated the strike on Thursday, affecting nearly 100,000 travelers across the country and internationally.
The approximately 680 mechanics, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, went on strike Friday evening, failing to reach an agreement on wages and working conditions.
“We continue to believe that this strike is only intended to inflict maximum damage on our airline and the country,” Diederik Pen, president of WestJet, said on Sunday, adding that he expected intervention from the federal government “of any emergency.”
The company said it had reduced its operational fleet to 32 aircraft, compared to nearly 200 in normal times.
Negotiations between the two sides continued late Saturday evening with the help of an arbitrator, without success. They are due to resume Sunday.
On Thursday, the threat of collective action seemed to have been averted following the intervention of the federal government which had ordered binding arbitration to resolve the contractual dispute.
But maintaining that the decision did not prohibit the strike movement, the mechanics union decided to move forward Friday evening, emphasizing that “the airline’s refusal to negotiate made the strike inevitable.”
A strike notice was issued earlier this month after mechanics rejected a tentative agreement.
