Air Canada starts canceling flights ahead of work stoppage that could impact hundreds of thousands

TORONTO (AP) — Air Canada started canceling flights on Thursday ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travelers.

A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day.

The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice.

Mark Nasr, Chief Operations Officer for Air Canada, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.

“All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning,” he said.

Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart “which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.”

He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas flights that were due to depart Thursday night. “By tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 customers,” Nasr said. “By the time we get to 1 a.m. on Saturday morning we will be completely grounded.”

He said a grounding will affect 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded. They expect 500 flights to be cancelled by the end of Friday.

He said customers whose flights are cancelled will be eligible for a full refund, and it has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide alternative travel options “to the extent possible.”

Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, head of human resources for Air Canada, said their latest offer includes a 38% increase in total compensation including benefits and pensions over four years.

The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants’ “poverty wages” and unpaid labor when planes aren’t in the air.

Some flight attendants at the airline’s news conference on Thursday held up signs that read “Unpaid work won’t fly” and “Poverty wages = UnCanadian.”

Natasha Stea, who represents flight attendants in Montreal for the union, said she thinks the airline is counting on the government to intervene. Stea said they want a fair and equitable contract.

“There is still time. I’m sure if we sat down and talked we could actually get to an agreement,” she said.

The union rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on.

Meloul-Wechsler said they've hit an impasse but are still available for talks and consensual arbitration.

She said that if a deal isn't reached, the resulting “very serious disruptions” would prompt the company to consider asking for government intervention.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said she asked the union to respond to the airline’s request for arbitration. She urged both sides to come to an agreement independently, saying she believes deals are best made at the bargaining table.

The escalation in negotiations comes nearly a year after Air Canada averted a possible strike by its pilots in September 2024 that likewise threatened a shutdown. A contract deal was reached, however, before the pilots union could issue a 72-hour strike notice.

Those pilots now say they support their colleagues in their fight for a new contract.

“We stand against government intervention and ask for the Air Canada Flight Attendants’ collective bargaining rights to be respected,” the union representing about 5,400 of the airline's pilots said Thursday in a statement on X.

Associated Press airlines writer Rio Yamat contributed.

Air Canada flight attendants interrupt Air Canada executives during a press conference as a possible strike looms in Toronto on Thursday, August 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a news conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Air Canada executives leave after they are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a news conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court will decide whether to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that has put a spotlight on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.

The Alaska Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case against Tupe Smith, who was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. Smith has said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials in the community of Whittier when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.

American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.

American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.

Smith's attorneys have asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Smith's supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state has argued that Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.

State prosecutors separately have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in Whittier, including Smith’s husband, Michael Pese.

Thursday's arguments centered on the meaning of the word intentionally.

Smith “and others like her who get caught up in Alaska’s confusing election administration system and do not have any intent to mislead or deceive should not face felony voter misconduct charges,” one of her attorneys, Whitney Brown, told the court.

But Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said that as part of ensuring election integrity, it's important that oaths being relied upon are accurate.

About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the Anchorage courthouse before Thursday’s hearing to support Smith. Some carried signs that read, ”We support Samoans.”

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.

“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said.

In a court filing in 2024, one of Smith's previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote."

Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.

Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”

The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”

The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Doyle said in a court filing last year.

One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, has said the appeals court could dismiss the case or send it back to the lower court “to consider whether the state can meet the standard it has set forth for voter misconduct.” The state also could decide to file other charges if the case is dismissed, he said.

The court did not give a timeline for when it would issue a ruling.

Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, left, stands with supporters of Tupe Smith gathered Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Supporters of Tupe Smith gather outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)