By Cheryl Jahn

Would an Air Canada strike affect YXS?

Aug 14, 2025 | 3:05 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Air Canada will be grounded this weekend if a deal isn’t reached with its flight attendants, with dozens of flights already cancelled in advance and Air Canada noting 500 more will be cancelled tomorrow.

“So this is just a business decision and nothing else. This is a very important distinction to make because it means that these people are eligible to not just alternate transportation when you’re a passenger affected by it, but also to meals, accommodation and a lump sum compensation up to $1,000 per passenger,” says Dr. Gabor Lukacs, President of Air Passenger Rights.

More than 450,000 passengers travelled through the Prince George Airport in 2024. But Air Canada out of Prince George is Air Canada Jazz, which is a different entity altogether. But that doesn’t help if you are making a connection with Air Canada.

“There’s very limited help here at the airport beyond what they can give at the counter, which is already available through AirCanada.com or through their call centres. So we would encourage people, if you’re travelling in the next few days, call now, go to the website now, don’t leave it until the last minute and then turn up at the airport perhaps and look for accommodation through the airline,” says Geoff Ritchie, President and CEO of the Prince George Airport Authority.

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Dr. Lukacs says passengers who have flights already with Air Canada have some options.

“Passengers have two options. Either insist on alternate transportation, plus compensation with meals and so on, or a full refund in the original form of payment, plus $400 compensation for the inconvenience. Personally, if you want to travel at all, I would recommend holding out for alternate transportation because if you take a refund plus $400, it is not likely to suffice to buy you a ticket with a competitor airline.”

But Air Canada services 130,000 customers a day, 25,000 of them in Canada. Can other airlines pick up the slack?

“It’s yet to be seen. I would say that WestJet, Porter and Flair can absorb some portion of it. I mean, Canada’s domestic market share is to the tune of about 40 per cent plus or 50 per cent. Of course, flights are already quite full.”

But would that affect YXS?

“The airlines that operate out of here will accommodate where they can accommodate, if there’s a request from Air Canada to do so. And we’ll just have to manage what is available through them for our customers. So it will be an agreement between the airlines. Are other airline partners here that can step up? I’m sure they’re all in support.”

Ritchie pleads with travellers to please check ahead before heading to the airport. In the meantime, Dr. Lukacs says this is a bit of a game of chicken, but suspects Air Canada is banking on the federal government to intervene.