Transat deal offers relief for vacationers worried strike would disrupt travel plans

MONTREAL AND TORONTO — A tentative deal reached hours ahead of a strike deadline by the Air Transat pilots union prevented the chaos of a holiday-adjacent work stoppage but came too late for some passengers whose flights had been cancelled as a precautionary measure.

The airline had announced a fresh round of flight cancellations Tuesday afternoon as the clock ticked down on a Wednesday morning strike deadline.

Travel company Transat A.T. Inc., which owns the Montreal-based leisure airline, said it had cancelled a dozen flights, plus another half-dozen scheduled for the next day.

The cancelled trips included sun destinations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Spain as well as London and Paris. All 18 flights were slated to either take off or land in Toronto or Montreal.

Air Transat said it had arranged seven extra flights Monday and Tuesday to ferry some passengers back early from their vacations in case a strike meant they had no way to return home.

Passengers travelling from Punta Cana and Cancun arrived as scheduled on Air Transat flights Tuesday afternoon.

Adrian Ruso said he was relieved to be returning home from vacation as scheduled and without any delays from the airline on Tuesday.

“The last few days we were stressed out but we’re glad to be back home today,” he said.

Other customers returning on the same flight told The Canadian Press they didn’t have time to answer questions but said they were returning to Toronto the day the originally planned to fly and didn’t have to change their bookings to ensure they made it home.

Another woman getting off the flight, who didn’t give her name, said she wouldn’t have been upset to have a few extra days of vacation if her flight was cancelled.

On the heels of round-the-clock discussions through the week, negotiators in Montreal resumed talks on Tuesday about a new contract for the carrier’s 750 pilots, who wanted a deal that boosts wages, job security and quality of life.

A work stoppage would have disrupted the travel plans of thousands of Canadians who fly Air Transat each day, mainly to sun destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe.

The carrier’s active fleet of nearly 40 planes carries tens of thousands of passengers on more than 500 flights each week.

The tentative deal comes at a particularly fraught time for Transat as it struggles to manage a large debt load — $1.4 billion in net debt as of July 31 — and turn an annual profit for the first time since 2018.

The board of directors is also trying to fend off an attempted coup by media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau. Last week, the head of telecommunications giant Quebecor Inc., who also owns 9.5 per cent of Transat — its second-biggest shareholder — demanded a board shakeup and strategic overhaul.

The proposal would see the billionaire’s right-hand man at Quebecor replace Transat chairwoman Susan Kudzman, with Péladeau also gaining a seat at the table.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2025.

Christopher Reynolds and Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press