Air Canada announced that it will restart flights on Sunday after the country’s industrial relations board ordered an end to a strike by 10,000 flight attendants, which effectively shut down the airline and slowed summer tourism.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board “directed Air Canada to resume airline operations and for all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants to resume their duties by 14:00 EDT on August 17, 2025,” according to a statement from the airline.
While it intends to resume flights on Sunday evening, Canada’s flag carrier warned that it will take “several days before its operations return to normal.”
Some flights are still scheduled to be cancelled over the next seven to ten days, it said.
A salary disagreement led to an early Saturday walkout among Air Canada cabin staff members.
Hours later, Patty Hajdu, Canada’s labour policy minister, utilised a legal clause to halt the strike and compel both sides to enter binding arbitration.
“The directive, under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, and the CIRB’s order, ends the strike at Air Canada that resulted in the suspension of more than 700 flights,” the Montreal-based carrier said.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the workers, requested wage increases as well as compensation for unpaid work, particularly during the onboarding process.
It had earlier stated that its members would remain on strike until the government issued a formal order to return to work.
It had advised customers not to go to the airport if they had a ticket with Air Canada or its low-cost affiliate, Air Canada Rouge.
While CUPE did not immediately respond to the back-to-work mandate, it had previously criticised the Canadian government’s action as “rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted.”
“This sets a terrible precedent,” it said.
The union also noted that Maryse Tremblay, the chairwoman of the CIRB, formerly worked as legal counsel for Air Canada.
Tremblay’s decision on whether to halt the strike was “an almost unthinkable display of conflict of interest,” the union wrote on Facebook.
On Thursday, Air Canada outlined the cabin crew terms, revealing that a senior flight attendant would earn an average of CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.
CUPE characterised Air Canada’s offering as “below inflation (and) below market value.”
The Business Council of Canada warned before the strike began that an Air Canada work stoppage would worsen the economic pain already being felt as a result of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Canada’s flag airline serves around 130,000 people daily and flies directly to 180 locations globally.
