Air Canada cancels flights to Trinidad and Tobago amid IR issues

INDUSTRIAL relations between staff at Air Canada and the airline have resulted in proposed flights from Toronto, Canada to Trinidad and Tobago being shelved.

According to reports, the airline is also being hindered by a shortage of pilots and equipment.

While Air Canada has not yet made an official statement, the discontinuation of the proposed service was confirmed by sources at TT Tourism. Newsday also checked the Air Canada website, which indicated  there were no flights from Toronto to Port of Spain available.

In Vancouver, CUPE, the union representing 9,500 flight attendants at Air Canada complained that the company’s quarterly profit of $838 million was a result of the company's not paying flight attendants for what was described as “hours of critical work.”

“A survey conducted by CUPE last winter found that the average flight attendant in Canada works unpaid for 35 hours every month because airlines like Air Canada only pay flight attendants while the plane is in motion,” CUPE’s Air Canada Component president Wesley Lesosky said in a release.

“This means duties critical to safety and passenger well-being like assisting passengers during boarding and deplaning as well as pre-flight safety checks are not paid,” Lesosky said. “These huge profit margins reported are built on the backs of the airline not paying our members a fair wage – simple as that.”

The airline was due to resume flights to Canada from November 1, starting with three weekly flights. There were plans to increase the flights in December.