Air Canada Strike Continues: Updates on Flights and Status

If you have a booking with Air Canada right now, there’s a good chance your travel plans have been caught in turbulence. The airline’s flight attendants—more than 10,000 of them—have been locked in a labour dispute that has now spilled into a second major disruption cycle. Passengers in Canada and abroad are feeling it: grounded flights, stranded travellers, and a dispute that refuses to stay settled.

Strike Status: Ongoing labour dispute ·
Affected Operations: Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge suspended ·
2025 Cancellations: 3,000+ flights in one week

Several key metrics define the scope of this labour standoff.

Has the Air Canada strike been resolved?

Not yet—and the dispute has now played out in two distinct chapters. The first round began August 16, 2025, when Air Canada flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) walked off the job, grounding hundreds of flights and stranding an estimated 500,000 customers (Euronews travel report). A tentative agreement mediated by William Kaplan brought a brief resumption of service on August 19, 2025 (Air Canada official statement), but the peace was short-lived: between August 27 and September 6, 2025, 99.1% of CUPE members voted to reject the deal (Wikipedia article on the strike).

The second disruption arrived in 2026, when flight attendants defied a return-to-work order from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). The strike went into effect at 12:58 a.m. ET on a Saturday, and Air Canada canceled 738 flights that Sunday and nearly 400 more on Monday (ABC News coverage). CIRB had declared the strike unlawful and ordered employees back by 12 p.m. ET Monday, but CUPE refused to comply. As of this writing, the fundamental sticking points remain unresolved.

The implication: travellers should treat any Air Canada booking as conditionally confirmed and monitor official channels closely for developments.

Will all Air Canada flights be cancelled with the strike?

Not every flight will vanish, but the majority of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations have been suspended during active strike periods. The airline operates roughly 700 daily flights under normal conditions (Fox Business news report), and during the 2025 strike, Cirium data showed over 3,000 cancellations in a single week—1,534 domestic and 1,613 international (AFAR travel report). In the 2026 disruption, Air Canada grounded hundreds of flights beginning early Saturday, affecting roughly 130,000 passengers.

One important exception: Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines have continued operating during both strike cycles (Wikipedia reference). This means some regional routes may still have options through codeshare partners.

What this means: If your route can be covered by an Air Canada Express partner, you may still have travel options—but confirm with the operating carrier directly.

How will I know if my Air Canada flight gets cancelled?

Air Canada maintains a dedicated travel disruptions page that updates in near-real-time. The airline also sends proactive notifications via email and SMS to passengers with existing bookings. During active strike periods, the carrier has recommended checking Air Canada’s official flight status tool before heading to the airport.

In practice, passengers report that notification timing varies—some receive alerts hours in advance, while others learned of cancellations only upon arrival at the gate. The discrepancy appears tied to whether flights are proactively canceled ahead of the strike or pulled at the last minute due to crew availability.

• Register for SMS or email notifications through your booking
• Check the Air Canada flight status lookup tool before departure
• Monitor the travel disruptions page for real-time updates

What is the average salary of an Air Canada flight attendant?

Salary data from employment platform Indeed shows flight attendant compensation varies by base location and experience level. According to self-reported salary information, Air Canada flight attendants in Calgary averaged around entry-level pay rates that reflect the industry’s reliance on flight-time compensation rather than hourly ground work (Indeed.com salary database).

The core pay structure is worth understanding: flight attendants at Air Canada are compensated primarily when the aircraft is in motion. Boarding, deplaning, and ground duties are performed unpaid—a point of contention at the heart of the labour dispute. CUPE’s demands explicitly include pay for ground work, framing it as both a fairness issue and an industry standard that Air Canada lags behind (Fox Business report).

The trade-off: the advertised salary figure often doesn’t reflect that roughly 30–40% of a flight attendant’s working hours occur on the ground, unpaid.

How much do Air Canada flight attendants make per hour?

Precise hourly rates from official payroll records aren’t publicly available, but publicly listed job postings and salary aggregators offer a window. Entry-level flight attendants at Air Canada typically start in the C$25–C$35 per hour range, scaling up with seniority and flight hours. The union’s push for ground-duty pay would effectively increase total compensation without necessarily changing the stated hourly flight rate.

Air Canada’s most recent contract offer on the table—rejected in September 2025—included a 17.2% wage increase spread over four years. CUPE characterized this as below market, citing competitor airlines and rising cost of living in Canadian cities (ABC News report).

Why this matters: the 17.2% offer versus CUPE’s demand for “above inflation and federal minimum” wages reflects a fundamental gap in how the industry values a flight attendant’s total working hours. Until that gap closes, negotiations will likely continue to stall.

The table below shows where the two sides stand on the key issues driving the dispute.

What passenger rights apply during the Air Canada strike?

Canadian regulations take a notably different stance on strike-related disruptions than European and UK frameworks. Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, strikes are classified as outside the airline’s control, which means affected passengers are entitled to refunds or rebookings but not monetary compensation for delays or cancellations (PAX News regulatory analysis).

The picture changes significantly for passengers covered by EU or UK regulations. There, strikes are considered within the airline’s control, and eligible passengers can claim up to approximately $970 CAD in compensation regardless of Air Canada’s policy (PAX News report). A tech firm estimated Air Canada could owe passengers $66 million for disruptions stemming from the 2025 strike cycle alone under the broader interpretation.

Air Canada has historically offered refunds for cancellations within specific date windows tied to active strike periods. For the 2025 disruption, refunds were available for bookings affected between August 15–23, 2025, though the airline’s official position currently states “no current strike or lockout” risk (Air Canada Vacations advisory).

The catch: Canadian passengers have limited recourse beyond rebooking; EU/UK travellers with Air Canada tickets may be entitled to cash compensation on top of refunds.

What happens next in the labour dispute?

The immediate future holds at least two flashpoints. First, Unifor Local 2002—the union representing Air Canada customer service agents—has a collective agreement expiring February 28, 2026, with a potential strike window opening late April or early May 2026 (Travel Tourister news). If that dispute escalates, passengers face a second layer of disruption beyond the current flight attendant action.

Second, CIRB’s response to the 2026 defiance remains in play. In 2025, Canada’s Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to impose binding arbitration shortly after the strike began (Wikipedia article). Whether regulators will take similar steps in 2026—or whether the legal landscape has shifted—will shape whether a settlement arrives through negotiation or fiat.

Air Canada has already suspended its annual forecasts citing the 2026 strike’s impact on financial guidance (ABC News report), underscoring the stakes for both sides.

What to watch: the outcome of binding arbitration discussions—if CIRB moves to impose them—and Unifor’s contract expiry date will determine whether 2026 becomes the year the dispute finally settles or escalates further.

Key voices in the dispute

“Air Canada deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers.”

— Air Canada (official statement via Fox Business news report)

“It’s not something that we’re going to let go of.”

— CUPE representative on ground pay demands (via Wikipedia article on the strike)

Related reading: Air Canada Strike Continues: Updates on Flights & Status · Air Canada Strike Continues: Updates, Cancellations & Impacts

Amid the continuing Air Canada labor action, flight attendants strike updates detail over 10,000 workers’ walkout and widespread flight cancellations affecting passengers.

Frequently asked questions