Deadline looms for Air Canada pilot strike

The clock is ticking on a potential Air Canada pilots strike that would wreak havoc on air travel, and at least one aviation expert is betting it will happen — and that Ottawa would be unlikely to step in with back-to-work legislation.

- MARISA COULTON

Air Canada pilots hold an informational picket at Vancouver International Airport last week. The pilots could walk off the job as early as Sept. 18.

“Is the government likely to get involved? My answer to that is probably not,” said John Gradek, faculty lecturer in Aviation Management at McGill University. “The government will stand back and let (the) … process take its course.

“This is not a national emergency.

This is not an essential service. It will be inconvenient for passengers … There is enough (airline) capacity out there to complement whatever loss of capacity Air Canada would be suffering as a result of this strike.”

On Aug. 22, Air Canada pilots voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike if adeal is not reached with the airline by the Sept. 17 deadline.

Whether the 5,400 pilots walk out will depend a lot on whether the company is willing to risk a shut down, said Barry Prentice, director of the Transport Institute at the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba.

Now that the airline is entering the slower fall travel season, Prentice says they might be willing to risk a strike.