Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge Flight Attendant Compensation Backgrounder

Background

Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge employ approximately 10,400 flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). In December 2024 the union issued the company a notice to bargain with the coming expiry of its current collective agreement. For details on the bargaining timeline, see collective bargaining process here.

As a reminder, flight attendants working for Jazz and PAL, which operate Air Canada Express flights, are not affected by the negotiations.

Compensation Model

The current compensation model was negotiated with and unanimously endorsed by the union’s eight-member bargaining committee, and ratified by the flight attendants, in the last bargaining round. This model had also been used in previous contracts dating back many years. Air Canada’s approach to flight attendant compensation, including for ground time, is consistent with that at most global carriers. In fact, CUPE reached a new contract with a large Canadian carrier in 2024 that uses this same approach.

The issue of ground time is discussed with the union as part of a more general conversation about overall compensation.

By the Numbers

Flight attendant compensation consists of several elements, including base pay, incentive awards, a defined pension plan, health benefits, bankable sick days, paid vacation, and steeply discounted leisure travel for themselves, families and friends.

Pay

The following two factors are combined to determine annual salary increases for flight attendants:

• Annual increase in pay scales, in accordance with the provisions of the contract
• Individual progression within the scale, which takes into account the increasing seniority of flight attendants during their first 10 years of service

Additionally, if Flight Attendants become Service Directors, their wages increase again.

Pay example for Flight Attendant hired in 2015:

• Starting wage in 2015: $25.13/hour
• Present wage in 2025 if Flight Attendant remains working in the same Flight Attendant position: $63.07/hour, more than 150% increase in pay since beginning career
• Present wage in 2025 if now working as a Service Director:
  o   $73.03/hour on narrow-body aircraft, more than 190% increase in pay since beginning career
  o   $87.01/hour on wide-body aircraft, more than 246% increase in pay since beginning career

In more details:

• The hourly pay is $41.39 for a Rouge flight attendant with 5 years of service, $63.07 for a mainline flight attendant with 10 years of service, and up to $87.01 for a service director.
• A service director at Air Canada earned an average of $80,000 in 2024, excluding incentive rewards, and Health and Pension benefits. The role of the service director is to oversee onboard service. All flight attendants are eligible for this position.
• Half of Air Canada mainline flight attendants earned more than $54,000 in 2024, excluding incentive rewards, and health and pension benefits. The median is influenced by the fact that about one third of flights attendants have been hired in the past 5 years. At the top of the scale, which they reach within 10 years, flight attendants can make more than $70,000.
• Air Canada Rouge flight attendants would typically have the ability to transfer to Air Canada mainline after a few years. About 75% of Rouge flight attendants have been hired in the past 5 years.
• Every month, cabin crew at Air Canada are guaranteed a minimum pay ranging between 65 and 80 credit hours whether they work these hours or not. An Air Canada Rouge flight attendant is guaranteed a minimum of 75 to 80 credit hours per month.
• With respect to time spent onboarding and similar tasks performed on the ground, these are captured within the Formula pay defined by the collective agreement, which covers the Duty Period (Commencing one hour prior to flight departure / ending 15 minutes after flight arrival). If the employee is requested to be on duty outside of these times or to perform service to passengers on the ground, the collective agreement provides for additional compensation.

Hours worked and time off

• Crew members at Air Canada are scheduled to fly between 71-80 credit hours[1] per month eight months per year and between 76-85 credit hours per month four months per year. Crew members at Air Canada Rouge are scheduled to fly up to 95 credit hours per month.
• Air Canada cabin crew are guaranteed a minimum of 12 days off per month. Air Canada Rouge flight attendants are guaranteed a minimum of 10 days off per month.
• Over the last 12 months, Air Canada cabin crew received an average of 16 days off per month and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants received an average of 14 days off per month.
• On top of this, newly hired Air Canada flight attendants receive two weeks of paid vacation after their first year plus an additional 10 vacation days in lieu of statutory holidays.
• The maximum annual vacation entitlement for Air Canada cabin crew is 35 days plus 10 additional days for statutory holidays, or 45 paid vacation/statutory holiday days per year.
• Adding statutory holidays and bankable sick days to their vacation entitlements and scheduled time off, Air Canada flight attendants worked an average of 10 to 12 days a month. Rouge Flight Attendants worked an average of 12 to 14 days a month.
   

[1] Credit hours are calculated using a formula based on actual flight time, the “duty period”, or the amount of time the employee is at work on the ground and in the air, and “trip duration”, or how long the employee is away from their home base.