OTTAWA — An arbitrator reviewing wages for flight attendants at Air Canada has finalized rates at the airline, bringing an end to the labour dispute that saw travel disrupted for thousands of people last summer.

The arbitrator maintained the rates agreed to in a tentative agreement for flight attendants at Air Canada’s mainline, but bumped up the increase in the first year for those at Rouge.

The bargaining committee for the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says it was not the outcome the union fought to achieve.

More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike in August 2025 and defied a back-to-work order until a deal was reached.

The flight attendants had voted over 99% to reject Air Canada’s final wage offer in September 2025. However, the union and the airline agreed at the time that the wage issue would be referred first to mediation and then, if no deal was reached, to arbitration, which began last month.

The contract includes a 12% salary increase this year for most junior Air Canada flight attendants and an 8% bump for more senior members in the first year of the contract. Rouge flight attendants will receive a 13% increase in the first year of the deal, an increase of one percentage point from the initial tentative agreement.

The contract includes an increase of 3% in the second year, 2.5% in the third year and 2.75% in the fourth for both Air Canada and Rouge flight attendants.

Lead image caption: People protest outside Air Canada headquarters in Montreal, Aug. 17, 2025, after the federal government intervened in the labour dispute between the airline and the union representing its flight attendants, ordering binding arbitration and operations to resume (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)