Extended Vacation: WestJet cancels flights at the wrong time

Canadian airline WestJet canceled several of its flights scheduled just before the long weekend due to an issue with pilots preparing to go on strike.

So the country’s second-largest airline has decided to ground most of its Boeing 737s and 787s ahead of a possible strike by its pilots fighting for better wages, Bloomberg reported.

The move comes at a typically busy time for airlines in Canada. Negotiations are still ongoing, but no compromise has been reached and the deadline is Friday at 5 a.m. Toronto time.

WestJet Link and WestJet Encore, which use smaller aircraft for refueling flights, will continue to operate. However, the paralysis would affect WestJet’s low-cost arm, Swoop.

The Airmen deplore the “unreasonable salary which may have permanent and detrimental consequences for the group’s financial viability,” we read in a press release.

Thus, more than 1,800 pilots claim salaries close to those of their American peers. Remember that in February, Delta Airlines agreed to a 34% wage increase, as part of a new four-year contract.