More than 10 WestJet flights canceled at Winnipeg airport due to strike

More and more WestJet flights are being cancelled due to an ongoing labour dispute between the airline and its mechanics.

As of Saturday morning, more than 10 WestJet flights to and from Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport were canceled.

“The number is changing,” said Tyler MacAfee, spokesperson for the Winnipeg Airports Authority (WAA).

The WAA said it would not comment on the matter itself, but encourages those traveling with WestJet to check with the airline for the latest information.

According to WestJet, 235 flights have been cancelled since the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) went on strike on Friday.

The strike came as a surprise after federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan ordered both sides to submit to binding arbitration on Thursday, in a bid to find a settlement and avoid travel chaos during the Canada Day long weekend.

In an update Saturday morning, CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech and Chairman Diederik Pen expressed frustration with the situation.

“The minister (of Labour) has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order binding arbitration,” said Ms. von Hoensbroech. “So the negotiation process is actually over, because an arbitrator is going to decide the contract, not the negotiation table. »

“This makes a strike totally absurd.”

On Friday, AMFA announced that the strike was due to the airline’s “refusal to negotiate with the union.”

Von Hoensbroech said the airline was waiting to hear from the labour minister on the next steps. In the meantime, passengers whose travel plans were disrupted by the strike will be compensated with a night in a hotel.

This isn’t the first time a labour dispute has disrupted WestJet’s holiday travel plans. In 2023, the airline narrowly avoided a strike in the early hours of the May long weekend, but still cancelled more than 200 flights in the process.

“It’s really frustrating.”

Travellers at Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport aired their grievances Saturday as many waited to hear whether their flights had been cancelled.

Zach Perry, a videographer from North Carolina, was scheduled to travel to Edmonton with DJ duo Sunday Scaries for their upcoming performance. However, the group is now stuck in Winnipeg due to the strike.

“It seems like the strike is working,” Perry said. “Customers are upset.”

Perry said they now have to talk to WestJet to try to reschedule their flight, or pay thousands of dollars to fly with another airline.

“It’s really frustrating,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it could have been a lot worse.”

The union action disrupts other passengers’ plans for Canada Day.

Jeanette Krahn and her partner were on their way to Ottawa to visit Krahn’s sister and celebrate the holiday in the nation’s capital.

Krahn said she kept checking their flight to see if it had been canceled, but never received confirmation.

“We thought we were lucky,” she said, so they went to the airport. “We checked in, went through security, got to our gate and that’s when we found out that the flight was also canceled.”

Krahn said she was disappointed and probably wouldn’t try to reschedule her flight.

“From what I hear, the call center is overwhelmed with a lot of canceled flights,” she said. “We’re kind of stuck.”

As for other airlines, Krahn said the prices they offer are simply too high.

“I don’t want to pay double,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press, CTV’s Stephen Hunt and Daniel Halmarson