Canadian North to lay off 15 pilots, union says

Updated Nov. 6 at 6:50 p.m. ET

The union representing Canadian North pilots says it expects 15 Boeing 737 pilots at the airline will be laid off due to a decrease in the company’s jet service.

“It’s disheartening. Our thoughts are with the pilots that are affected and their families,” said Steven Bard, chairperson of the Air Line Pilots Association International unit that represents Canadian North pilots.

“It is concerning for us, but unfortunately these decisions are made at the corporate level that we can’t dictate,” he said in an interview Thursday.

The union got the news Tuesday evening, Bard said.

The layoffs are due to the airline’s changing operations. He blamed them on its loss of its Montreal-Kuujjuaq route and the winding down of the first phase of a liquified natural gas project in Kitimat, B.C.

The gas project is a port and pipeline owned by LNG Canada Development, which transports natural gas from Dawson Creek, B.C., in the province’s northern interior to a port in Kitimat where it is then shipped to international markets, primarily in Asia.

In February, Winnipeg-based Exchange Income Corp. bought Canadian North from Inuvialuit Regional Corp. and co-owner Nunavik-based Makivvik for $205 million. Part of the deal included the transfer of the Montreal-Kuujjuaq route to Makivvik’s other airline, Air Inuit.

While only those specific routes have been affected by changes at the airline, due to seniority and other factors, there will be “a broad layoff” across the airline’s fleet of Boeing 737 jets, Bard said.

The loss of the Montreal-Kuujjuaq route means those layoffs are likely permanent, while the remainder are dependent on when and if the second phase of the liquified natural gas project begins, Bard said.

Canadian North employs 243 pilots, of whom 142 are Boeing 737 pilots. A loss of 15 pilots is nearly 11 per cent of the company’s Boeing 737 pilots and six per cent of all its pilots.

There is no timeline for the layoffs, Bard said. The union is working with the company, discussing possible steps to reduce the number of pilots who will be laid off. Until those conversations are complete, there will be no layoffs.

The union began bargaining for its newest collective agreement on Oct. 27. Bard said he felt the layoff announcement was just an unfortunate coincidence.

“I don’t see this as a tactic on the company’s behalf.”

The union is “committed and working diligently despite the news” to ensure the pilots can ratify a fair and industry-standard contract when the time comes.

Canadian North agreed the layoffs were due to the loss of routes at the airline.

“The upcoming flight crew layoffs are attributable to the transfer of the Montreal–Kuujjuaq route and the phase one wind-down of the Kitimat LNG project,” Hance Colburne, manager of communications and stakeholder relations, said in an email Thursday.

“No northern employment is being reduced, and no northern communities or services are affected,” he added.

“We are engaging with [the union] through this transition, and we share the union’s goal of reducing the number of affected employees wherever possible while remaining aligned with our shared objective of keeping Canadian North an employer of choice,” Colburne said.

Note: This story was updated to correct the number of Boeing 737 pilots Canadian North employs