Canada Travel Burns As Over 1700 Air Canada Flights Axed Across France, Us, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Germany, Uae And More, Slashing Earnings And Tourism Growth

Published on August 18, 2025

Canada’s recreation assemblage is reeling from a catastrophic jolt, pinch Air Canada scrubbing much than 1,700 flights successful conscionable 4 days, immobilising its once-pulsating world web and leaving countless passengers stranded astatine checkpoints from Frobisher to Frankfurt. The bearer confirmed SAC’s impermanent expanse erstwhile nan Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing much than 10,000 compartment crew, spurned a statesmanlike back-to-work bid and vowed to prolong its walkout successful nan look of a nonstop Canada Industrial Relations Board instruction to return, quickening nan industry- freezing movement. Their insubordination has generated a illness of virtually each Air Canada and Rouge mainline flights, distort- ing Maritime to Mildura to Mong Kok recreation and suspending connections from meme- LED hub to bombed selfies. Airports person warped into living, breathing exile camps; numbers of grounded craft curve upward into nan sky; and travellers swarm to replacement airlines. Valuations, occupancy numbers, and stories erstwhile buoyed by a return-of- summertime recreation now stumble, and manufacture money folks are near eyeing nan horizon, nervously, and wondering really agelong nan predominant bearer tin sputter successful complete oblivion earlier a day is locked successful aliases much conciliatory measures backmost connected nan table.

The situation started pinch an escalating labour standoff betwixt Air Canada and nan formation attendants’ association, which disregarded a federally mandated extremity to nan walkout and pushed up pinch nan strike. Consequently, Air Canada’s halfway and Rouge operations are practically grounded.

Day-by-day breakdown of cancellations

Air Canada’s web has travel undone since past Friday, often reporting cancellation rates adjacent to each departures:

• Friday saw 196 trips axed (30% no-show) and 201 trips tagged arsenic precocious (31% late)
• By Saturday, 597 trips vanished (95% no-show) and 7 tagged arsenic precocious (1% late)
• Sunday brought 606 trips vanished (97% no-show) and 3 tagged arsenic precocious (0% late)
• Yesterday (Monday) has 393 trips vanished (64% no-show) and 15 tagged arsenic precocious (2% late)

Now nan four-day totals are 1,792 trips vanished and 226 tagged arsenic late. Saturday and Sunday were near-total write-offs, Air Canada ordering almost nan full airframe to park.et, an unprecedented shutdown for Canada’s largest bearer extracurricular of earthy disasters aliases nan pandemic.

Airport-level impact

Across Canada’s awesome airports, terminals stay gridlocked arsenic ever-larger volumes of passengers hold for news of their postponed journeys:

Toronto Pearson International:

• Friday: 320 formation delays, 124 flights cancelled
• Saturday: 171 formation delays, 409 flights cancelled
• Sunday: 174 formation delays, 431 flights cancelled

Vancouver International:

• Friday: 314 formation delays, 74 flights cancelled
• Saturday: 123 formation delays, 160 flights cancelled
• Sunday: 156 formation delays, 170 flights cancelled

Montreal-Trudeau International:

• Friday: 192 formation delays, 65 flights cancelled
• Saturday: 70 formation delays, 231 flights cancelled
• Sunday: 103 formation delays, 228 flights cancelled

Calgary International:

• Friday: 213 formation delays, 19 flights cancelled
• Saturday: 118 formation delays, 62 flights cancelled
• Sunday: 157 formation delays, 61 flights cancelled

At Pearson, Sunday cancellations unsocial exceeded 800, much than galore mini location airlines alert successful a month; Vancouver and Montreal now spot comparable lotsed pinch hundreds much cancellations, while Calgary saw smaller but still important disruption.

Destinations affected

Air Canada’s activity of cancellations has deed some world and transcontinental recreation correct astatine nan knee, grounding flights acold beyond nan home still waters. The astir heavy affected metropolis pairs now publication for illustration a freight-forwarders’ consolidated list.

• North America and nan Caribbean: Miami, Denver to Toronto, Nassau, Butler Bear, midweek flights to George Town and Havana, Santo Domingo connected Wednesdays, Kingston, Port of Spain and nan adjacent islands, Aruba and nan Saturday saintly elements of nan Grenadines, those 8 a.m. cross-Miami hops to Turks and Caicos, Grenadines and nan accustomed gateways for illustration Costa Rica and Mexico.
• South America: immoderate relationship from São Paulo to nan 2nd Toronto wave, double-daily successful nan aged days of March, now a still skyline. Argentinian cocoa and Brazilian banners connected notification screens only, Chile to Peru shuttle collapses correct astatine nan Santiago stop, Caracas stays dark.
• Unified database from Europe: thrice connected F, thrice connected D, tri-alphabets and VAR metropolis airdrome packages. J is dropped, and nan 8.20 to Cork is nan first notification. The disconnect reverberates done nan K capitals connected earlier slots, rubbing 5.00 from Scottish cheerleaders to dueling Italians, nan heartbreaking F and P alerts successful nan Austrian forum.
• In MENA and Asia, it conceptually thickens: Cairo’s nights backmost to standstill, Tel Aviv cancellations discolor nan gem hummus, ET still dormant, UAE gem polishing astatine a standstill, inverted moving days from Osaka to Singapore, 4 a.m. Cebu now world shuttle assign.

Confirmed database astatine home: missing successful faraway varietals. The formation clerk sees Ontario to BL, past a BL to Q, past some forced to grim Canada-line low-cat alert bulk successful sadantiquated. The transportation vans cue again, information velvet vexation and open-ended wait-lists. The fractures trim still deeper.

Impact connected codeshare flights

The onslaught and abrupt activity of formation cancellations are reaching each area of Air Canada’s network—including codeshare segments. Passengers who booked done Air Canada yet are flying connected partner carriers are now dealing pinch unexplained cancellations, missed connections, and uncertainty connected which hose must navigate nan rebooking.

Air Canada’s codeshare database stretches crossed each continent, pinch much than 35 carriers. Some of nan astir travelled overlap include:

• In Europe—Aegean, Aer Lingus, airBaltic, Air Dolomiti, Austrian, Brussels, Croatia, Discover, Edelweiss, Eurowings, LOT, Lufthansa, Swiss, TAP, and ITA.
• For Asia and nan South Pacific—Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, EVA, Scoot, Singapore, Thai, SriLankan, and Virgin Australia.
• From nan Middle East and Africa—Egyptair, Emirates, Ethiopian, Etihad, Middle East Airlines, Turkish, and FlyDubai.
• In nan Americas—Avianca, Azul, GOL, United, and Central Mountain Air.

Being booked connected 1 of these flights intends untangling which operating hose is obliged to reroute, and agelong clasp times are nan only clear certainty.

Passengers are being re-routed onto later world legs, often missing connections to location Continental, South American, and besides intra-European bound flights that are almost exclusively handled by Napoleonic charter carriers. Reticketing and revalidation dawdle owed to nan inter-line synchronization demands, giving commencement to excessive queues, van eclipsing nan de-boarding process, and an insistence connected navigating passengers crossed plethoric transportation corridors. Compensation and voucher vouchers often inflate secondary queues imbuing undue strain upon nan supplier uncolleagues debar faltering aft what appears to beryllium dilapidated transportation disruptions. Star premium paper holders woes consciousness only waning solace signaled much accelerated reconfirmation to nan ranks than others.up, airports successful Frankfurt, London, Istanbul, and Singapore are reporting stranded passengers holding Air Canada tickets who cannot proceed their journeys.

Timeline of nan crisis

• Friday morning: CUPE’s flight-attendant contingent escalates action aft negotiators spell past self-imposed deadline without agreement.
• Friday afternoon: Federal authorities seeks accelerated solution by petitioning Canada Industrial Relations Board for statutory arbitration and roll-back of occupation action.
• Saturday: CIRB sheet grants requested orders; Air Canada announces phased reactivation of suspended departures.
• Sunday afternoon: CUPE rebuffs authorities directive by confirming continuation of picketing, leaving astir 10,000 members connected strike.
• By Monday: Airline leverages overnight adjustments; formation committee shows 1,700-plus cancellations, displacing complete 100,000 passengers, pinch betterment still unspecified.

Should onslaught persist a afloat week, information models task cancellations transcend 3,000 flights and effect upwards of 1 cardinal passengers. A two-week aliases lengthier arena would erode Air Canada’s early gross pipeline by freezing summertime and autumn itineraries arsenic Canadian and long-haul customers move to different acting carriers. Prolonged disruption could siphon respective 100 cardinal dollars from inbound and home tourism and correspond nan astir superior setback for nan country’s hose assemblage since lockdown-induced collapses observed successful March 2020.

Why nan onslaught continues

The bosom of nan situation lies pinch more than 10,000 Air Canada formation attendants, represented by nan Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Their statement expired successful March 2024, and efforts to scope a woody stalled complete costs increases, ostentation pressures, and unpaid activity erstwhile planes are not successful nan air.

On Saturday, nan Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ordered attendants backmost to activity nether binding arbitration, pursuing a petition from Labour Minister Patty Hajdu. But CUPE defied nan order, calling it unconstitutional.

“We will beryllium challenging this blatantly unconstitutional bid that violates nan Charter authorities of 10,000 formation attendants, 70 per cent of whom are women, and 100 per cent of whom are forced to do hours of unpaid activity by their employer each clip they travel to work,” nan national said successful a statement.

At Toronto Pearson, CUPE vice-president Lillian Speedie told CBC News: “To legislate america backmost to activity 12 hours aft we started? I’m sorry, snowstorms person unopen down Air Canada for longer than we were allowed to strike.”

CUPE person rejected nan government’s bid to extremity nan strike, and formation cancellations continue

Federal authorities nether pressure

The government’s swift action has faced contiguous rebuke. Just hours into nan walkout, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu invoked nan rarely-used Section 107 of nan Canada Labour Code, justifying nan move connected nan grade of airdrome disruption. Critics antagonistic that specified involution undermines nan principles of corporate bargaining and efficaciously grants nan hose pinch nan very advantage nan national alleges was secured done bad-faith negotiation. Unions, governmental opponents, and ineligible experts pass that nan executive has, by enactment of order, relegated workers’ entitlements successful nan sanction of perceived safety, contrary to nan tone of negotiated compromise.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees characterised nan bid arsenic an “incentive for bad faith” and a triumph for management.

Passenger vexation grows

Last-minute cancellations near airdrome terminals successful turmoil. Travellers who received real-time notifications of departure position only to observe a abrupt board-closure were thrust into lengthy hold queues and opaque rebooking processes. Families abroad, transient workers, and inbound world students alike reported a complete nonaccomplishment of formation itineraries, amplifying anxieties astir missed connections and accommodation. The airports successful Canada’s 3 superior hubs—Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver—saw lines that proliferated overnight: hundreds of travellers amassed astatine rebooking kiosks and customer-service desks, threading waiting hours into fragmented entree to information.

A increasing number of passengers person shifted to seeking refunds and alternate arrangements, leaving nan hose to negociate reprocessing, standardized by worsening measurement and a still-uncertain timeline for reimbursement.

Economic fallout

The business action is arriving astatine nan astir precarious juncture for Canada’s tourism rebound. Federal projections had hinged connected a vigorous betterment successful 2025, predicated connected a steep emergence successful world arrivals to substance description . Forecasts now propose that Air Canada’s near-complete suspension of services whitethorn curtail that scenario, erasing hundreds of millions successful anticipated receipts and undermining nan country’s opinionated arsenic a unafraid recreation option.

Occupancy rates successful hotels, preservation systems for restaurants, and capacity connected guided tours are already registering a surge of cancellations. Operators for whom inbound recreation is simply a halfway gross driver pass that nan costs to nan assemblage could escalate to nan precocious double-digit millions wrong a azygous further week of continuing disruption.

The effect is not confined to tourism; work sector, logistics, and world convention schedules are likewise affected. Delayed business trips, rerouted commercialized freight, and rescheduled acquisition events are compiling further costs, and nan consequences of nan disruption are now expected to widen beyond nan resumption of normal operations.

Air Canada has cancelled much than 1,700 flights successful 4 days aft nan Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) rejected a national back-to-work order, keeping complete 10,000 formation attendants connected strike. The defiance has grounded routes worldwide, stranding much than 100,000 passengers and slashing Canada’s tourism net and maturation prospects.

What comes next

AAir Canada reports optimism astir relaunching a information of its formation schedule by Monday night; however, nan beingness of thousands of compartment unit still watching onslaught action raises important uncertainty astir nan feasibility of specified a plan. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has formally asked nan bearer to return to nonstop negotiations, expressly rejecting a edifice to arbitration.

Although nan Canada Industrial Relations Board has provisionally extended nan lapsed corporate statement until a successor statement is successful place, nan imaginable of productive speech remains remote. Ongoing ineligible challenges, coupled pinch intensifying national scrutiny, propose nan conflict whitethorn widen for measurable weeks.

Meanwhile, nan country’s tourism assemblage is preparing for extended adverse effects: flights stay suspended, passengers stay delayed, gross is forfeited, and anticipated maturation successful aerial recreation is thwarted astatine an particularly susceptible juncture for nan industry.