Travel chaos as hundreds of flights grounded as Air Canada suspends all operations this weekend

On Friday August 15, Air Canada announced that “A planned strike by CUPE, the union representing 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, is expected to begin Saturday, August 16 at 01:00 ET. To provide our customers with certainty, we have begun a phased wind-down of most of our operations, to be completed over the next two days.

“We appreciate your patience while we work to get you on your way. Rest assured that we will notify you of any impact to your flight itinerary in advance of your travel.”

If you have flights booked for these dates and would like to make alternate travel arrangements, it is possible to change your flight for free if you purchased an Air Canada ticket or redeemed points for an Aeroplan flight reward no later than August 14, 2025.

Air Canada said that Air Canada Jazz, PAL Airlines and Air Canada Express flights were unaffected by the strike. Air Canada reportedly offered flight attendants a 38% increase in total compensation over four years, and a 25% raise in the first year.

The union CUPE said in a statement that "When we stood strong together, Air Canada didn't come to the table in good faith," the union said in a statement to its members. "Instead, they called on the federal government to step in and take those rights away."

One TikTok user Justina shared a video from 14 hours ago to the"Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday"music and in the captions wrote: “nothing beats an Air Canada strike… “No flights to book from yyz to any of western Canada for three days, told to call this number but it just hangs up, no one way car rentals for a cross country trip either.”

In response to her video, one user said: “How is it looking for arrivals?? We are flying from Venice today,” whilst another said: “I can’t get through their call centre right now! Any tips? Another person added : “Do you guys think this will be over by October?

Air Canada said on their website that “CUPE served Air Canada the statutory 72-hour strike notice on August 13, 2025. The airline has since been gradually reducing its schedule of approximately 700 daily flights to manage the labour disruption created by CUPE’s strike notice, while working diligently to reach a new, negotiated collective agreement and avoid further labour disruption. Approximately 130,000 customers will be impacted each day that the strike continues.”