John Aaron: Latest News

WestJet’s CEO on Wednesday called the salary demands of the pilots’ union unreasonable and said a “substantial” gap remains between the two sides, as the airline prepares for a looming strike with no signs of a deal.

WestJet is telling its pilots it was offering “significant” wage increases that would make them among the highest paid workers in Canada before the pilots’ union issued notice for a strike that could begin this week, Global News has learned.But the union says the “cherry-picked” six-figure salaries included in internal communications do not represent the full scope of the offer they rejected, and criticized the airline for bargaining in public.Global News obtained a memo sent to pilots by John Aaron, WestJet’s vice-president of flight operations, to the airline’s pilots hours after the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) issued a 72-hour strike notice Monday evening.WestJet pilots are set to walk off the job at 3 a.m. Eastern on Friday unless a deal is reached.In the memo, Aaron said the airline’s latest offer — which expired after the strike notice was issued — would have raised salaries to “around” $300,000 for a narrowbody aircraft captain and $350,000 for a widebody aircraft captain, before overtime and other stipends.Aaron said those wages would have made narrowbody captains and first officers the highest-paid in Canada.Narrowbody aircraft are the more common passenger planes, like the Boeing 737, that have a single aisle separating passenger seating.

WestJet has sent layoff notices to 1,700 of its pilots Wednesday night as the toll from worldwide travel restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis continues to worsen, the airline confirms.