(Yicai) Aug. 18 -- A strike by Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants has forced the airline to suspend all flights, sharply reducing already tight capacity on routes between China and Canada and causing ticket prices between the two countries to triple.

Fares for two-stop connecting flights between Shanghai and Vancouver exceeded CNY30,000 (USD4,175) on Aug. 16 and yesterday, while the price for tomorrow remains around CNY10,000. In addition, business class seats on direct flights have sold out.

The Canadian flight attendants' union notified Air Canada of its intention to call a strike on Aug. 13, prompting the airline to reduce flights between Aug. 15 and 18, with passengers who had already bought tickets offered a free flight change after Aug. 21 or a full refund. 

Air Canada canceled all flights scheduled to and from Japan, South Korea, and China on Aug. 16 the day before. The Montreal-based company has been holding contract talks with the Canadian Union of Public Employees for eight months, with the pair yet to reach an agreement.

Air Canada runs direct flights from Vancouver to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, but it can only operate as many flights to China as all of China’s carriers combined on routes to Canada due to a bilateral traffic rights deal.

Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Hainan Airlines are the Chinese carriers with flights to Canada.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic ended, China has seen a slower recovery in flights to Canada than to the United States. The recovery rate to the former was 26.1 percent last month from the level in 2019, with 254 round-trips, while to the latter was 26.3 percent, according to statistics from Flight Manager.

Chinese airlines are slowly resuming more flights to Canada, with Air China increasing weekly departures on its Beijing-Vancouver route to two from one and on its Beijing-Toronto route to three from two starting Aug. 27. China Southern will add a new Guangzhou-Vancouver route on Sept. 16, while China Eastern plans to add more flights on its Shanghai-Vancouver route.

Air Canada, however, still has not used half of its allotted China flight quota. It operated 97 round trips between the Chinese mainland and Vancouver last month, which was only 32 percent of the 2019 level, data from Flight Manager showed.

Editor: Martin Kadiev