Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet Group, announced on Saturday the cancellation of an additional 235 flights due to a strike by aircraft maintenance engineers.
Increasing Passenger Disruption
The new flight cancellations are expected to affect approximately 30,000 more passengers. Earlier on Saturday, the cancellation of 150 flights had already disrupted the travel plans of about 20,000 passengers.
AMFA’s Strike
The Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association (AMFA) initiated the strike, leading to the flight cancellations by WestJet. Representing around 670 WestJet maintenance engineers, AMFA commenced the strike at 4:30 PM local time on Friday.
Statement from the Company
WestJet President Diederik Pen stated in a written announcement that the company has been “attempting every avenue for resolution while safely and controllably reducing the number of flights, working tirelessly to maintain a stable network.”
Request for Emergency Intervention
According to the company, WestJet, which has over 250,000 passengers scheduled for the weekend, is parking its aircraft at airports across Canada while requesting emergency intervention from the Minister of Labour and the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Crisis Expected to Worsen
The flight cancellations and the impact of the strike are severely disrupting WestJet’s operations and causing significant inconvenience to passengers. If the strike continues, more flights are expected to be canceled, further increasing passenger dissatisfaction and disruption.
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