WestJet has begun cancelling flights as the deadline for the 72-hour notice for the flight attendant strike and lockout is nearing, affecting airports on Vancouver Island.

In anticipation of looming strike and lockout deadline, WestJet has begun cancelling flights, with 276 cancellations across the country as of 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 1.

READ MORE: WestJet cancels flights as Sunday strike deadline looms

Four Vancouver Island airports are served by WestJet, with two showing cancellations on their respective websites as of 3:30 p.m.

Watch the story below:

In Victoria, there are five cancelled flights on Saturday:

5:30 p.m. from Calgary

6:20 p.m. to Calgary

7:35 p.m. from Calgary

8:25 p.m. to Calgary

11:40 p.m. from Calgary

There are currently nine cancelled flights on Sunday showing on the Victoria Airport website:

6 a.m. to Calgary

7 a.m. from Edmonton

7:50 a.m. to Calgary

8:20 a.m. from Winnipeg

9 a.m. from Calgary

9:15 a.m. to Winnipeg

9:50 a.m. to Edmonton

5:30 p.m. from Calgary

6:20 p.m. to Calgary

The Comox Airport website is showing one cancellation for Saturday:

There is also one cancelled flight in Comox for Sunday:

Campbell River and Nanaimo airports also have flights with WestJet, but are not showing any cancellations.

McKenzie McMillan with The Travel Group says the several international flights were also cancelled in what WestJet says is a way to protect both passengers and crew from getting stranded.

“We’ve seen pretty much all of those flights, primarily out of Calgary to places like London, Barcelona, Tokyo those have all been cancelled for today as they don’t want their crew being stranded over seas if the strike comes to pass,” McMillan said.

The flight attendants union has a strike mandate starting 12 a.m. MT. WestJet has issued a lock-out notice for the same timeline, which means all flights could be grounded unless the two sides can reach a tentative agreement.

“It’s a very day to day situation, very fluid situation. The airline doesn’t want to be cancelling the flights, they don’t want to be having to refund passengers, so they’re going to keep those flights going as long as they can until they absolutely have to cancel,” McMillan said.

He adds if a strike does start and more flights are cancelled, it will take a while to get back to normal travel conditions once a tentative agreement is reached.

“We saw that with Air Canada where the strike lasted four days but it took about a week and a half to really get operations back fully up and running,” McMillan said.

“So if you are flying in the next few weeks with WestJet, really important to just make sure you’re checking your flight status and make sure your contact information is up to date.”

The Victoria Airport encourages travellers to check your itinerary before heading to the airport to check if your flight has been cancelled.

“Victoria International Airport (YYJ) is aware that WestJet has begun cancelling some flights ahead of a potential labour disruption as contract negotiations continue between WestJet and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing WestJet Cabin Crew,” YYJ said in a statement to CHEK News.

“Passengers travelling with WestJet over the coming days may experience flight changes or cancellations. If you are travelling with a connection, please check the status of your entire itinerary before leaving for the airport, as disruptions elsewhere in the WestJet network may affect onward travel even if your departure from Victoria is operating as scheduled.”

The CUPE communications representative for WestJet flight attendants says they are in bargaining on Saturday.

With files from The Canadian Press