Dubai to Toronto flights cancelled as Air Canada grounds all aircraft due to cabin crew strike

About 130,000 passengers will be affected each day strike continues

Travellers pass Air Canada flight attendants on strike at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Saturday. The Canadian Press via AP

Air Canada has suspended all its flights amid a strike by its 10,000 flight attendants, who are demanding more pay for their work.

The strike began on Saturday and also resulted in the stoppage of flights operated by the flag carrier's budget arm, Air Canada Rouge, the airline said.

An Air Canada flight that was scheduled to depart from Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3 early on Saturday morning to Toronto has been cancelled, according to Dubai Airports flight status data. The flight scheduled to depart on Sunday was also marked as cancelled.

The airline had been gradually reducing its schedule of 700 flights daily to manage the disruption caused by the labour strike after Air Canada cabin crew, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), gave 72-hour strike notice to the airline on August 13.

A flight board is seen at the Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal, Canada. AFP

“Approximately 130,000 customers will be impacted each day that the strike continues,” the airline said.

It advised passengers not to go to the airport “unless they have a confirmed ticket on an airline other than Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge”.

The airline also said it will notify customers with imminent travel of additional cancelled flights and their options.

“For those customers due to travel soon whose flights are not yet cancelled, Air Canada has put in place a goodwill policy to allow them to rebook their travel or obtain a credit for future travel,” it added.

Air Canada operates flights to more than 180 airports in Canada, the US and other destinations globally.

The airline's flight attendants are demanding more pay for their work, including payment for carrying out duties every day before and after flights.

This includes critical safety checks, boarding and deplaning procedures, assisting passengers with special needs, and preparing the cabin, they said in a post on the CUPE website.

“This practice persists because flight attendants' compensation is based on 'block time' (take-off to landing), not from when the employee begins work,” the employees said.

Passengers ask questions at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as a strike begins after the union representing Air Canada's 10,000 flight attendants failed to reach an agreement with the airline. Reuters

“Unlike most workers, flight attendants are not paid when they report for duty, even though they are expected to be in uniform, on-site, and performing job-related duties, including critical safety-related duties mandated by Transport Canada.”

Passengers affected by flight cancellations were venting their frustration on social media, with additional additional spending to book hotels.

In a note to clients on Friday, analysts at financial services firm TD Cowen urged the carrier to “extend an olive branch to end the impasse,” adding that investors are worried that any cost savings on labour are outweighed by lost earnings in the airline's most important quarter.

“We think it would be best for AC to achieve labour peace,” Reuters quoted the note as saying. “Not budging on negotiations risks being a Pyrrhic victory.”