As a Porter pilot, you’ve taken an important first step toward strengthening your career and profession by collecting cards for ALPA representation. The resources we have access to as ALPA members have been instrumental in achieving the job protections, pay, and benefits we have as Air Transat pilots.

Last October, Air Transat pilots had a front-row seat watching our colleagues at Air Canada negotiate and ratify one of the largest labour contracts in Canadian aviation history. This agreement raises the bar for pilots in Canada and establishes a benchmark for pattern bargaining, with a particular focus on compensation, retirement, and quality of life protections across the industry.

We began contract negotiations in January 2025 and strongly encouraged our management to acknowledge the market trends in the aviation sector and to properly recognize the value, skill, and experience our pilots bring to the airline and our passengers.

 

Whether it’s preparing for negotiations or enforcing the contract, we always had ALPA professional staff at our side helping us to strategize proposals, develop language, negotiate with management, and to navigate the whole collective bargaining process. For example, staff from ALPA’s Representation (both Labour Relations Counsel and Retirement and Insurance professionals) and its Economic and Financial Analysis Departments help us to better understand management's proposals and to develop our own counter-proposals.  Our Communications professionals help us keep the pilot group informed of our negotiations every step of the way both during negotiations, throughout the contract implementation process, and beyond.

And while we fight for a contract that addresses the concerns of our pilots and brings stability to our airline, we stand beside the unified Porter pilots in your efforts to join the world’s largest pilots union and continue advancing the aviation industry.

 

In Unity,

 

Capt. Brad Small,

Air Transat MEC Chair