Air Canada clears a major hurdle to its plans for an international low-cost airline

Over a year ago, Air Canada made noises about getting into the low-cost holiday-package market, but the proposal was stalled due to a lengthy labour dispute with its pilots. Now, after 19 months of negotiations, sick-ins and wildcat strikes, an arbitrator has ended that stand-off, selecting Air Canada’s final contract offer over that of the Air Canada Pilots Association. Explaining why he sided with the airline, arbitrator Douglas Stanley wrote that “Air Canada needs to establish a low-cost carrier to ensure its competitive future.” (The pilots were opposed to the plan because it could result in non-union members flying planes without consent from the union.) Now that that has been sorted out, how long until we can catch a cheap Air Canada flight to Varadero? [Globe and Mail]