Travel disruptions continued across Canada and beyond on Sunday as Air Canada extended mass flight cancellations amid an ongoing strike by its flight attendants, leaving thousands of travelers stranded at the peak of summer travel.
The country’s largest airline cancelled hundreds of flights over the weekend after its cabin crew union refused to end industrial action, despite a federal government directive ordering them back to work.
Air Canada, which services 180 cities globally and carries roughly 130,000 passengers daily, had initially planned to gradually restart limited operations through its mainline services and its budget carrier, Air Canada Rouge.
However, in a fresh statement on Sunday, the airline said those plans had been suspended, blaming the union’s refusal to halt the strike.
“Air Canada… has suspended its plan to resume limited flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge,” the statement read.
“The airline will resume flights as of tomorrow evening.”
Photos from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport showed grounded Air Canada planes and growing lines of frustrated passengers as the carrier advised customers not to come to the airport if they were booked with either of its airlines.
The labor dispute has quickly escalated into a nationwide travel crisis, drawing criticism from stranded travelers and prompting calls for quicker resolution.
The government’s directive to end the strike, which was meant to restore normalcy, has so far failed to yield results.
Air Canada has not yet provided a full schedule of when operations will resume or how many more flights will be affected in the coming days.
