WestJet announced on Wednesday that it has begun canceling and consolidating flights in anticipation of a strike by its aircraft maintenance engineers and other technical operations employees.
The airline stated that 6,500 passengers will be affected by 40 flight cancellations on June 18-19. On Tuesday, WestJet mechanics issued the company a 72-hour strike notice.
The strike is expected to begin at 9 PM Eastern time on Thursday, involving approximately 681 aircraft maintenance engineers and other skilled workers, according to the union.
WestJet made the decision to cancel flights while awaiting intervention from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) under the Canada Labour Code. The airline said on Wednesday that it is waiting for a response from the CIRB.
WestJet Encore operates a regional route network in service of the mainline WestJet airline. The company is owned by Onex Corp and has been competing with Air Canada while trying to meet employee demands to close the wage gap with their higher-paid American counterparts.
