Latest news with #AirLinePilotsAssociation
CTV News
7 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Flair Airlines planning to close Waterloo crew base, end international routes out of YKF
Big changes are coming to the Region of Waterloo International Airport. In an email to CTV News Kitchener, Flair Airlines confirmed plans to close its crew base at the airport, YKF, as of Sept. 3. 'To build long-term resilience, we are expanding into new charter operations that bring stable, guaranteed revenue. This strategic shift requires us to reallocate aircraft and reduce our scheduled passenger service after the summer peak,' Eric Tanner, Flair Airlines Vice President of Commercial, said. Flair said the change is not tied to any layoffs and inflight and maintenance teams will still have roles within the company as a maintenance base will still be running at the airport. Flair said they remain the largest carrier at the airport and scheduled flights will take off as planned. However, Flair Airlines confirmed they will be ending international routes out of YKF with the new allocation of their aircraft. Currently, Flair's domestic flights include Calgary, Alta., Edmonton, Alta., Halifax, N.S., Abbotsford, B.C. and Vancouver, B.C. Their international flights included Orlando, Fla. and two Mexican destinations: Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. CTV News Kitchener has reached out to the Region of Waterloo, the owner and operator of the airport, and the Air Line Pilots Association, an organization that represents thousands of pilots in the United States and Canada, including pilots with Flair Airlines. More to come.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
What can be done about Canada's air traffic controller shortage?
Air Line Pilots Association Canada president Tim Perry outlines where the industry is at today and what progress he hopes to see as the country faces an air traffic controller shortage, which an Air Canada pilot called out during a recent flight.
Fast Company
13-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How the United Airlines brand is managing air traffic turbulence
This past weekend, there were more disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport due to Federal Aviation Administration equipment outages. It has added to the air travel chaos at Newark over the past month, which has included air traffic controllers losing communication with planes for up to 90 seconds, and led to the delay and cancellation of hundreds of flights. On Monday morning, there were at least 59 flight delays and more than 80 cancellations at Newark, according to FlightAware data. Air traffic controllers and the 79,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, are calling on the FAA to update its aging infrastructure to ensure the system is as safe and efficient as possible. At least five Newark air traffic controllers have taken 45 days of trauma leave after the radar and radio communication loss during the busy afternoon of April 28. Caught in the middle of the issues at Newark is United Airlines, which is the most active airline at the New Jersey airport. While the problems lie with the FAA system, the airline is where people often aim their frustrations over cancellations and delays. This presents United with a unique brand challenge. The brand must find solutions and communicate clearly with its customers about a problem that it's ultimately not responsible for, or in control of. United was forced to cancel at least 35 flights per day last week (as of Friday). Josh Earnest, United's executive vice president of communications and advertising, says that while people understand that United Airlines is not responsible for running the air traffic control tower, the brand still has to act. 'People know it's not our equipment or employees managing the airspace, but our brand is so big, and our presence at Newark in particular is so large, that they expect us to do something about it,' Earnest says. Transparency is key For Earnest, the key to navigating a situation like this is for the brand to be as transparent and clear as it possibly can. United has a responsibility to ensure and assure its customers that not only are its flights safe, but that the cancellations are directly related to that safety. 'We don't usually aggressively promote the fact that we had to cancel a bunch of fights,' Earnest says. 'But in this case, we did because people expect us to do something about the problem. And by taking 35 fights out of the schedule [each day], that makes it much more likely that the other 293 fights, or whatever it is, will operate on time. The airport's less crowded, there's less congestion. That's us taking proactive steps to try to solve that problem.' The next step is communicating this to customers. So far, United has been utilizing social media and earned media to do that. The Newark outage story has been getting such a bright media spotlight that the brand has used it to get its own message out. United CEO Scott Kirby appeared on CBS's Face The Nation this past weekend to talk about the issues. And Kirby's original May 2 memo about Newark flight cancellations appeared in The Wall Street Journal just an hour after it was sent. Safety first Canceling flights would initially qualify as kryptonite to any airline brand. But Earnest says that while it may cause some short-term pain, it's an investment in the brand's long-term health. 'The most important issue that people should associate with our brand is safety. The operational environment is messy, but the reason that it's messy is that we're keeping it safe,' he adds. 'So when there's a lack of staffing in the control tower or some other issue, the right thing to do is to slow down the operation at the airport, with more separation between the planes. That's something that we're going to need to continue to reinforce, and we're going to spend our credibility to do it. The good news is that's not a tough decision to make because it's actually our first and highest priority.' The situation in Newark hasn't slowed down United's marketing operation. This week, the airline unveiled and prompted its first flights featuring Starlink Wi-Fi. Earnest says that in times like this, the brand is provided an opportunity to really shine. 'If we handle it well, we will earn credibility with our customers in those moments,' he says. 'As challenging as this is, it is an opportunity for us to actually earn even more of our customers' confidence.'
CBC
25-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
WestJet pilots ask judge to nix approval of temporary foreign workers in the cockpit
The union representing WestJet pilots is asking a judge to quash federal approval of temporary foreign workers in the cockpit. In an application it says was filed Monday, the Air Line Pilots Association petitioned the Federal Court to declare invalid a government decision green-lighting temporary work permits at WestJet Encore earlier this month. The filing says the airline requested about 60 permits for pilots from India and South Africa under the temporary foreign workers program. Tim Perry, who heads the union's Canadian wing, says it was not consulted and that the move could erode "safety margins" and undercut wage gains. WestJet says it asked the government to assess whether temporary foreign workers are needed, a necessary step before hiring from abroad can take place. It says none have been brought on board so far. The temporary foreign worker program, which allows non-permanent residents to work in Canada for limited periods, employs hundreds of thousands of people across industries ranging from agriculture and construction to hospitality and health care.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pilots' union calls WestJet's use of Temporary Foreign Worker program 'problematic'
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is calling out WestJet Airline Ltd.'s use of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, and the government's approval of the company's application, to fill vacancies during what the industry says is a pilot labour shortage. Tim Perry, who leads the Canadian arm of the group, said the pilots union is deeply concerned that WestJet is citing an inability to attract Canadian pilots to its airline as the rationale for hiring temporary foreign pilots. 'Their request to hire foreign pilots is problematic and short-sighted and will cause irreparable damage to labour relations,' he said on Friday. The pilots union said WestJet's management team has failed to address the issue of career progression and job security for pilots within the company. It said there are more practical solutions to attracting and retaining skilled professional pilots that do not involve utilizing the program. ALPA, which represents 95 per cent of professional Canadian pilots, reached a collective bargaining agreement with WestJet in May 2023, bumping its pilots' pay by 24 per cent over four years. At the time, several North American airlines were also set for negotiations with pilots amid labour shortages. The group said there should be considerations required when assessing highly skilled, licensed, unionized workers employed under terms set out through collective bargaining. Flair cancels summer Nashville route as state blames trade war Ottawa lays out path for pensions to invest in Canada's airports 'As we have said before, ALPA Canada supports legal immigration, which includes a stable pathway to citizenship, with labour mobility rights. However, we do not support the status of these employees in Canada when it is under the control and subject to the whims of an employer,' Perry said. • Email: dpaglinawan@ Sign in to access your portfolio
