WestJet cancelled more than 100 flights on Thursday after talks with the pilots’ union hit a “critical impasse,” throwing travel plans into turmoil for thousands of passengers ahead of the May long weekend.
Some 1,800 pilots at the carrier and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to walk off the job as of 3 a.m. MT after the Air Line Pilots Association served a strike notice Monday.
CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said late afternoon Thursday that the two sides are “still significantly apart,” but noted both remained at the negotiating table despite the “stalemate”—until past 3 a.m. Thursday morning.
“We basically announced to them that we will lock out all pilots as of tomorrow morning at 3 a.m.”—if a tentative deal is not reached—he said in a phone interview from a hotel near Toronto’s Pearson airport….