WestJet mainline enters first day without strike-related cancellations: Cirium

WestJet flight operations continue to stabilize following the airline's labour disruption over the weekend, with no mainline flight cancellations reported so far today (Aug. 5), according to Cirium.

The aviation data firm shows that WestJet has cancelled zero of its 460 scheduled mainline flights on Aug. 5. The figures exclude WestJet Encore operations.

As reported, WestJet's 4,287 flight attendants walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. MT on Sunday (Aug. 2) after a 72-hour strike notice expired, forcing the airline to suspend its Boeing 737 and 787 operations.

By then, the airline had already begun an "organized take-down" of its network on Friday (July 31), and throughout the weekend, more than 600 flights were cancelled, with the bulk of the disruptions occurring Sunday.

The Calgary-based airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the company's flight attendants, reached a tentative agreement by early Monday (Aug. 3).

Since the disruption began, WestJet cancelled a total of 925 mainline flights out of 2,837 scheduled, representing 32.6 per cent of its network over the six-day period, Cirium reports.

The bulk of cancellations occurred during the work stoppage, with 110 flights cancelled on Aug. 1, 494 flights on Aug. 2, and 305 flights on Aug. 3.

Operations improved significantly on Tuesday (Aug. 4), when just 16 of 446 scheduled flights were cancelled.

Cirium's current outlook shows no cancellations for WestJet's 472 scheduled mainline flights on Thursday (Aug. 6, although operations remain subject to change.

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