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CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Porter Airlines pilots unionize under Air Line Pilots Association
Porter staff direct travellers at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto on Friday, July 19, 2024. Porter Airlines suspended flights until at least noon as a global tech outage affected flights at the airline. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov Porter Airlines pilots have officially unionized under the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the labour organization announced Tuesday. With the agreement now certified by the Canada Industrial Relations Board, roughly 800 pilots from Canada's third-largest airline have joined more than 13,500 others across the country in recognizing the association as their bargaining agent. 'Porter pilots are instrumental to the airline's considerable success,' ALPA Canada president Tim Perry said in the release. 'Our immediate priority is to help Porter pilots negotiate a fair collective agreement that recognizes their significant contributions to the airline.' The ALPA noted Tuesday that Porter's pilots are the 22nd Canadian pilot group to join the union and the 43rd to do so continent-wide. With the addition of Porter, previously Canada's largest non-union carrier, the association says it now represents more than 95 per cent of Canada's professional airline pilots. The Porter pilots follow their colleagues at Air Canada, whose union merged with the ALPA in 2023. The following year, the union voted to approve a new agreement with Air Canada, following weeks of uncertainty over a potential strike. Flight attendant strike looms Air Canada flight attendants, meanwhile, are in the midst of a 72-hour notice period ahead of a strike of their own, set to begin on Saturday. The airline has issued a parallel lockout notice in response, and has warned that it could begin cancelling flights as soon as Thursday.' In a statement posted to social media Thursday, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu shared in the disappointment expressed by both sides. 'I understand this dispute is causing a great deal of frustration and anxiety to Canadians who are travelling or worrying about how they will get home,' the statement reads. 'I urge both parties to put their differences aside, come back to the bargaining table and get this done now for the many travellers who are counting on you.' Please see my statement on the latest development between CUPE Flight Attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada: — Patty Hajdu (@PattyHajdu) August 14, 2025 Air Canada has asked the government to intervene in the dispute by ordering arbitration. Hajdu says that federal mediators are 'willing and able to work with parties around the clock,' but has not yet ordered their use. With files from CTV News' Christl Dabu and The Canadian Press
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opening Canadian market to foreign airlines a 'lose-lose,' pilots union says
Pilots are speaking up against the Competition Bureau's recommendation to allow foreign carriers to operate domestic flights within Canada and loosen restrictions on foreign ownership of airlines, saying the idea places Canadian-owned carriers at a competitive disadvantage and risks displacing Canadian workers. On June 19, the federal watchdog released a market study outlining measures it believes will increase competition in the domestic airline market, including ways to leverage international capital to strengthen competition. In response, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), a union that represents 95 per cent of professional Canadian pilots, said it strongly believes that permitting foreign airlines to offer domestic service in Canada, known as cabotage, is 'impractical' and 'unwise.' 'Such a scheme would enable foreign airlines to cherry-pick money-generating routes at the expense of less profitable regional connections that bind our country and are the backbone of the Canadian economy,' Tim Perry, who leads the Canadian arm of the group, said in a statement. In its report, the Competition Bureau urged the government to work with other countries to remove foreign competition restrictions in international agreements, phasing out specific ownership restrictions. It recommended that airlines from partner countries be allowed to conduct cabotage operations in Canada. The ALPA said the bureau's recommendation is a 'lose-lose proposition that sells out Canadians' by forfeiting air sovereignty and exports many of the benefits of Canadian-owned and operated enterprises. The existing rules on domestic flights only allow Canadian airlines to fly from point to point within the country, and to qualify as 'Canadian,' airlines must be owned and controlled by Canadians. Currently, foreign investors can own up to 49 per cent of the voting shares in an airline. Those rules were last updated in 2018. The Competition Bureau suggested allowing up to 100 per cent foreign ownership of domestic-only Canadian airlines, creating a new class of airline that operates only in Canada but can have owners outside the country. It also said the single-investor foreign ownership limit for Canadian airlines should be increased to 49 per cent. At the moment, no single foreign investor can own more than 25 per cent, and the same goes for foreign carriers. In May, Onex Corp. sold a 25 per cent stake in WestJet to a consortium of global airlines including Delta Air Lines and Korean Air. 'We found that restricting foreign investment and foreign carriers reduces competition in Canada's domestic airline market,' senior officials at the Competition Bureau told media at a June 19 briefing. They said the level of concentration in the industry means that on many routes, travellers have limited choice and pay higher fares than they might in a more competitive environment. While other countries have adopted looser regulations, Canada's restrictions make it harder for airlines to access capital from investors outside the country, and harder and more expensive for new and existing carriers to find funding to expand, the agency said. Porter Airlines said it supports increasing foreign ownership limits to 49 per cent for a single shareholder, but additional changes to foreign ownership and market access require much greater scrutiny. 'For example, allowing foreign airlines to operate domestic routes will further disadvantage smaller carriers,' Porter Airlines said in a statement. It said the proposal should not be considered without reciprocal access to other countries for Canadian airlines, although the practice will ultimately benefit the largest players with greatest resources and brand recognition. John Gradek, a faculty lecturer of supply networks and aviation at McGill University, said cabotage is basically 'a poor man's approach to increasing competition in Canada,' as foreign airlines are given the right to fly 'whenever they feel like it, at whatever price they feel like.' 'Cabotage is not a globally well-accepted commercial concept, because it does threaten the Canadian entity,' Gradek said. He added that, in this case, it's like giving away Canadian rights to a foreign carrier without having any reciprocal rights for Canadian carriers. 'I'm very surprised that the Competition Bureau is leading us down that path.' The bureau also recommended eliminating international flight exclusivity clauses, which limit only one airport in a local area to have international flights. Another recommendation is to shift financial burden of airport maintenance away from passengers. Airlines collect both airport improvement fees and passenger facilitation fees from customers as part of their ticket price and then transfer the funds to airports, keeping a processing fee for the transaction. 'Many stakeholders told us that airport fees make it more expensive for airlines to operate,' the report said. In a statement, WestJet said it welcomes the bureau's market study and agrees that third-party fees, charges and taxes, which it said are much higher in Canada than in other jurisdictions, undermine affordability and deter competition in Canadian air travel. As an example, for a typical round-trip in Canada, a passenger must pay $133 in fees (none of which goes to airlines), compared to only $49 in the U.S., WestJet said. 'Lowering fees and charges would allow millions more Canadians to afford air travel, grow the size of the market and create room for new entrants and more competition, which in turn delivers more choice and more affordable travel for Canadians,' it said. Flair Airlines said the bureau's findings reinforce key issues that have long affected the airline industry, such as opaque slot allocation, 'unfair' airport fee structures, and exclusive commercial arrangements that benefit incumbents and block new entrants. 'The findings show that Canada's airline industry needs to expand beyond the large carriers that currently dominate the market,' said Eric Tanner, Flair's vice president of commercial. Meanwhile, Air Canada released its own report on Thursday refuting some of the Competition Bureau's claims, the main one being a lack of competition in the Canadian air travel industry. 'Canadians have greater choice than ever before on the vast majority of routes they travel on,' Air Canada said. It also said competition in Canada is as robust, if not more, than other jurisdictions. CIBC Capital Markets analysts said they could see the Canadian government being open to implementing some recommendations, such as increasing airline data transparency, but also see a number of recommendations as controversial. The analysts said that while access to more capital would theoretically yield more competition and thus lower fares, they believe there would be little appetite for the recommendation that the long-term goal should be to remove all foreign ownership restrictions on airlines. They also noted whether international investors would view operating only in Canada as a good opportunity, as the cost of doing so is high and the country has a large land mass with a small population. Gradek said the idea of loosening restrictions on foreign equity on airlines is nothing new and has been tried in other countries. He said there's always been a belief that there isn't enough capital in Canada to support new airlines, and that there is an aspiration that foreign carriers and foreign investors would have a greater interest in serving Canadian air markets than Canadians would. Canada has had a problem with domestic carriers, particularly new ones, lasting a few years and then running out of cash, Gradek said, adding that those airlines don't grow to a critical size to be able to compete with Air Canada and WestJet. 'That's something the Competition Bureau is saying: we somehow have to break that duopoly that's out there and we have to try it another way, use foreign carrier funds,' he said. In recent years, several ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) have entered the Canadian market, although with mixed success. Lynx Air and Canada Jetlines, both established in 2022, were short-lived and ceased operations last year. WestJet's low-cost brand, Swoop was eventually folded into its main operations in 2023. WestJet also recently acquired Sunwing Airlines, which had officially shut down last month, into its main-line service. Air Transat beats expectations, adjusts to shift in travel demand Airline traffic in Canada is up — just not to the United States Flair Airlines began its current operations in 2017 and is the only remaining ULCC in Canada. By 2023, domestic capacity shares were as follows: Air Canada had 47 per cent, WestJet had 27 per cent and other airlines had 26 per cent. • Email: dpaglinawan@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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.
CBC
18-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
WestJet backs down from TFW hiring plan
Calgary-based airline cites 'economic uncertainty' for reversal WestJet says it no longer plans to use the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program to hire captains for its regional Encore airline, a decision welcomed by the union. In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for WestJet said the move was due to "economic uncertainty." "We are referring to the heightened unpredictability most businesses are facing in the current economic climate, including but not limited to demand," the Calgary-based airline said. "WestJet, like many airlines, are constantly assessing the demand for travel, and making adjustments as required." WestJet had previously said the program was among several avenues it was pursuing to address a labour shortage. "We're very happy," said Capt. Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Canada, which had criticized WestJet for pursuing the TFW program rather than improving working conditions to attract more domestic applicants. "This is the outcome that we were looking for," he said. Amid the final weeks of the federal election campaign, Perry said the union now hopes to push the various political parties for commitments to reform the TFW program, if elected. In particular, Perry said he would like to see a stronger requirement that the government consult with relevant labour groups before giving an employer a green light to use the program.
CBC
18-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
WestJet backs down from TFW hiring plan
WestJet says it no longer plans to use the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program to hire captains for its regional Encore airline, a decision welcomed by the union. In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for WestJet said the move was due to "economic uncertainty." The airline had previously said the program was among several avenues it was pursuing to address a labour shortage. "We're very happy," said Capt. Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Canada, which had criticized WestJet for pursuing the TFW program rather than improving working conditions to attract more domestic applicants. "This is the outcome that we were looking for," he said. Amid the final weeks of the federal election campaign, Perry said the union now hopes to push the various political parties for commitments to reform the TFW program, if elected. In particular, Perry said he would like to see a stronger requirement that the government consult with relevant labour groups before giving an employer a green light to use the program.
