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Air Canada cabin crew will see their wages increased by 20% over four years, an arbitrator ruled on Tuesday.

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The decision affects 15,000 cabin crew members and is mostly in line with what the company originally proposed, Bloomberg News reported, amid a labour dispute that led to a three-day strike by flight staff in August 2025.

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The decision by arbitrator Paula Knopf said that mainline flight attendants will receive a pay increase of up to 12%, while attendants for the budget Rouge brand will get a 13% increase in the first year of the agreement, which is retroactive to April 1, 2025.

Cabin personnel will then receive raises of 3%, 2.5% and 2.75% over the next three years, although the union’s cost-of-living adjustment was rejected. Knopf’s decision said the rates offered by Air Canada were “within the normative range” for the sector, Bloomberg reported.

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‘Not the outcome’ union wanted

A source with familiarity of the negotiations told Bloomberg that Air Canada will be paying Rouge flight attendants one percentage point more than what it proposed for the first year of the deal.

“This is not the outcome the union fought to achieve,” the Air Canada Component of CUPE said in a post on Facebook.

The decision came more than five months after flight attendants almost unanimously rejected Air Canada’s wage offer with the issue being referred to mediation, something that was previously agreed to by both sides.

The tentative deal – aided by a federal mediator – helped end a three-day strike in August that forced 2,000 Air Canada flights to be cancelled. The federal government’s involvement drew the ire of CUPE at the time, which said Ottawa’s role in the dispute was “corrosive.”

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Arbitrator calls wage increase ‘unique’ advance

The initial deal offered an overall compensation increase of about 40% over four years, including pension and benefits, and premiums of 50% to 70% over the hourly rate across four years for certain ground duties, such as tasks related to cabin security.

Until now, Air Canada flight attendants were only paid when the aircraft was in motion — a common industry practice but one their union wanted to end.

“This new premium amounts to a significant and unique income advance in the airline sector,” Knopf said in her decision.

— With files from Bloomberg News.

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