Overview

• Air Canada issued 72-hour lockout notices after CUPE served a matching strike notice, initiating flight cancellations that have halted roughly 500 services by Friday.
• The union representing 10,000 mainline and Rouge flight attendants could launch a strike at 1 a.m. ET on August 16 if no deal on wages and unpaid ground work emerges.
• Air Canada warns a full suspension would disrupt as many as 120,000–130,000 passengers daily and affect 25,000 Canadians abroad awaiting return flights.
• The carrier has urged Ottawa to impose binding arbitration under the Canada Labour Code, while CUPE insists on negotiated terms that its members can vote on.
• Even if an agreement is reached quickly, Air Canada cautions that a safe, orderly restoration of flights could take up to a week and strain rebooking capacity.