A potential Air Canada pilots strike is the last thing that Regina International Airport needs.
But that prospect looms over the airport this week, as contract talks stall between Air Canada and the pilots union. A strike could happen as soon as this weekend.
Regina Airport Authority CEO James Bogusz spoke about what he knew of the situation to reporters Tuesday. He said that what he has learned from Air Canada is if there is a labour disruption, there could be “a wind-down of their services, to do it in an orderly fashion.”
Air Canada is one of the major airlines serving the YQR airport, along with WestJet. While WestJet generally offers more short-haul routes to cities such as Calgary, Air Canada offers the daily cross-country routes to and from Vancouver and Toronto. A labour disruption would seriously affect those travel plans.
“This would be massively impactful to YQR,” Bogusz said. “We typically see three flights a day to Vancouver, three flights a day to Toronto.”
A labour disruption involving Air Canada would come at a point in time when the airport had been coming back from some earlier disruptions and work stoppages. There had been the introduction of new WestJet flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul and announcements of flights to sun destinations coming this winter.
But there have been adversities as well, including WestJet’s own labour dispute earlier this summer.
“We’ve had a very busy summer, which has been great,” Bogusz says. “Earlier in the summer, of course, we had those challenging times with WestJet and the labour disruption, and now we could be facing another circumstance with Air Canada.”
The airport has also had to contend with weather-related disruptions, most recently with WestJet having to ground roughly 10 per cent of its fleet due to damage from a massive Calgary hailstorm.
“I’ve been in this industry a long time, and I’ve seen airline disruptions for a variety of reasons,” Bogusz said. “Sometimes it can be winter weather. Remember the polar vortex we had not too long ago. I was disrupted myself even travelling. It could be labour, it could be aircraft mechanicals.”
Bogusz said that as it stands right now, Air Canada is offering passengers further booking options, refund options, and are communicating to the best of their ability. The airport CEO told reporters he was watching hopefully for a resolution, but did voice concern.
“Air Canada is a big, big player for our airport and for many other communities in Canada,” Bogusz said. “If there is a disruption of this scale, it would be very impactful for our whole country.”
In the event of a labour disruption, Bogusz asked the public for their understanding and to be patient with staff at the airport.
“It’s very frustrating when your flight gets delayed or canceled, but I can assure you it’s not the fault of the local staff at the airport in terms of an agent at a Air Canada counter. If you are in the airport and if there is any disruptions to your flight, please be kind and understanding to the local agents here at YQR.”
Bogusz adds that if they learn at YQR of an imminent disruption, the airport will help amplify Air Canada’s messaging on their social media channels and be proactive in contacting media partners to let them know what they know about the situation.
