Duncan Dee: Latest News

pilots’ strike that threatened to upend Canadians’ Victoria Day long weekend travel plans.The Calgary-based airline and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) announced a tentative agreement to avoid the job action early Friday. Some 1,800 pilots at WestJet and Swoop had been poised to walk off the job Friday morning after the ALPA served a strike notice Monday.In anticipation of a work stoppage, WestJet grounded more than 200 flights Thursday and Friday to avoid “abandoning aircraft in remote locations without support.” The process of getting those flights back online started after the tentative agreement was reached, WestJet said.“The WestJet Group is ramping up its operations as quickly and efficiently as possible, however the full resumption of operations will take time,” the airline said in a statement.“Guests remain encouraged to continue to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.”WestJet’s cancellations affected dozens of routes within Canada and to the U.S.

A former Canadian airline executive says that responsibility for weeks of delays and cancellations at Toronto Pearson International Airport rests on the shoulders of the federal government.