Air Canada begins cancelling flights over potential strikes by attendants

Air Canada began cancelling flights in preparation for a possible strike by its flight attendants, which may disrupt travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

A complete closure of the largest airline in Canada would effect around 130,000 passengers each day.

Nearly 300 flight attendants failed to show up for work Thursday night, more than doubling the typical number, according to the airline, which announced this  social networking platform X.

“This will result in additional cancellations,” the airline noted.

“We regret the inconvenience to customers,” it added.

Air Canada’s chief operating officer, Mark Nasr, announced that the airline has begun a gradual suspension of both Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.

Nasr claimed that this strategy is intended to assure a seamless restart, and that under ideal conditions, it will take around a week to complete.

He stated that the initial wave of cancellations, which involved several dozen aircraft, will mostly affect long-haul foreign flights planned to depart Thursday night.

The grounding could leave 25,000 Canadians stranded daily while abroad, Nasr noted.