Hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants to lose jobs

July 11, 2008

632 Air Canada flight attendants will lose their jobs in November as the airline is eliminating flights and routes. 332 of the jobs will be lost due to the closure of flight attendant base offices in Halifax and Winnipeg. Another 300 jobs will be lost at Vancouver due to major reductions in Air Canada's Pacific-based international flights.

Dramatic increases in fuel prices are widely blamed for the airline's cutbacks. The flight attendant layoffs are part of an overall plan to reduce 2000 jobs at Air Canada.

Airline union CUPE learned of the flight attendant cutbacks from the airline on Wednesday. Representatives of the labour association gave critical responses to this news.