{"id":839060,"date":"2026-07-31T22:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839060\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T22:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:15:09","slug":"westjet-begins-grounding-737-aircraft-ahead-of-potential-flight-attendant-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839060\/","title":{"rendered":"WestJet begins grounding 737 aircraft ahead of potential flight attendant strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

WestJet says it has started parking aircraft ahead of a possible labour disruption.Amir Salehi\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

WestJet says it has begun parking aircraft ahead of a possible strike by flight attendants and says passengers are advised to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.<\/p>\n

Airlines typically begin cancelling flights ahead of a potential work stoppage because it prevents crew and passengers from being stranded.<\/p>\n

WestJet says it is continuing to bargain with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 4,400 flight attendants in the hope of reaching agreement on a new contract. <\/p>\n

If a deal is not reached by Sunday morning, either side could begin a work stoppage that would see hundreds of flights cancelled during a long weekend in much of the country.<\/p>\n

CUPE triggered a 72-hour strike notice<\/a> that ends on Sunday just after midnight in Calgary, where Canada\u2019s second-largest airline is headquartered. WestJet responded with a lockout notice on the same timeline.<\/p>\n

The airline says WestJet Encore flights operated on a Q400, as well as codeshare flights\u202foperated\u202fby airline partners, remain unaffected.<\/p>\n

Explainer: Why and when WestJet flight attendants could strike, and how it may affect you<\/a><\/p>\n

The parties continued to negotiate on Friday afternoon, both the airline and union said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made some progress, and the issues remaining need to be resolved at the table. We are hopeful that we can still avoid a strike and remain committed to resolving this there,\u201d said Alia Hussain, President of CUPE 8125. <\/p>\n

Travellers flying out of Toronto\u2019s Pearson airport on Friday faced uncertainty about whether they would get home as planned.<\/p>\n

Gord Garwood, who was set to fly to Vancouver, said he was worried his return flight to Toronto in 10 days could be cancelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019ll get cancelled, maybe not. Fingers crossed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If it does get called off, \u201cI won\u2019t be able to extend [my trip],\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll definitely be at WestJet\u2019s counter or whatever and \u2026 trying to change it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callie Adams said she had no issues as she checked in for a flight to Mexico, where she planned to spend a week before returning to Toronto next weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t make it, then my work will be hearing from me on Monday morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, hopefully the strike \u2026 hopefully it doesn\u2019t happen, but if it does, then we\u2019ll just play it by ear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corey Vahrmeyer, who was set to fly to Vancouver for the weekend to attend his cousin\u2019s wedding, said he hoped a possible strike would not disrupt his plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlying lately, in general, has become a little bit more chaotic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you go to the airport, it feels like it\u2019s almost a roll of the dice. You\u2019re just not sure what you\u2019re going to get, and this time it\u2019s a strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the potential work stoppage, WestJet has allowed passengers travelling between July 30 and Aug. 4 to make a one-time change or cancellation with no fees. Passengers whose flights are cancelled because of a strike would be eligible for refunds.<\/p>\n

Compensation for work done on the ground remains a key stumbling block in the talks, less than a year after the same issue sparked a work stoppage by Air Canada flight attendants. Ottawa intervened and directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and order the flight attendants back on the job.<\/p>\n

Sanya Kennedy, who travelled through Toronto on her way home to Calgary, said WestJet should \u201cpay the worker what they\u2019re owed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody works 10 hours, they should get paid for the 10 hours,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rinks Slump said he was unfazed by the possible cancellations as he set off for Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been travelling within Canada probably for the last six years, working out west a lot of time, and I had a couple of strike notices, but then they always get sorted out at the last minute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government steps in and put back-to-work legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearson airport said it was aware of the 72-hour strike and lockout notices from the union representing the cabin crew and WestJet, and urged travellers to check with the airline for flight information.<\/p>\n

WestJet has said it operates more than 600 flights a day, carrying legions of passengers \u2013 more than 70,000 on some days.<\/p>\n

A shutdown would cost the carrier millions of dollars during the height of summer travel, according to experts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: WestJet says it has started parking aircraft ahead of a possible labour disruption.Amir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-839060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}