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WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - An America West passenger jet taking off from Las Vegas missed hitting an Air Canada jet by about 100 feet last Thursday night, according to a preliminary report, because a controller in the tower confused two planes and issued conflicting instructions. The controller has been taken off duty and sent for more training, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and the episode is under investigation. America West Flight 539, departing for Cleveland, was cleared for takeoff about 11 p.m. local time on Runway 25 Right. At the same time, Air Canada Flight 593 had landed on...

MONTREAL, June 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Air Canada said today that it has been informed by the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) that the tentative agreement on costs and other issues relating to the Boeing order has been rejected by the union membership. ACPA leadership had recommended ratification of the tentative agreement which had been negotiated with the assistance of Mediator Mr. M.G. Mitchnik. The Company accepts the pilots' decision and has notified Boeing of the order cancellation. The agreement with Boeing announced April 25 was subject to the successful completion of certain conditions including the negotiation of satisfactory terms by...

TORONTO (CP) - Air Canada may cancel a $6-billion-US order for 32 new Boeing long-range airliners if it doesn't reach an agreement with its pilots by Friday, airline chief Robert Milton has disclosed. The purchase of 18 Boeing 777s and 14 of the new 787 Dreamliners was described as firm when it was announced April 25. However, Milton - president of parent company ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. - told a transport industry conference in New York on Wednesday morning: "I would highlight that we're actually in the final stages of negotiating with our pilot group the terms of the contract...

NEW YORK - ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., the parent company of Air Canada, said Monday it plans to purchase 18 Boeing 777 aircraft and 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners as part of a wide-body fleet renewal plan. Terms were not announced. Montreal-based Air Canada made a firm order for the 32 jets, and also has the option to purchase 18 additional 777s and 46 more Dreamliners from Boeing Co. Air Canada's 777 deliveries are scheduled to begin next year with the arrival of three 777-300ERs in 2006. The carrier's first 777-300ERs will operate its Vancouver-Tokyo service. Air Canada's first 787 is...

NEW YORK (CP) - The Wall Street Journal says Air Canada plans to announce an aircraft deal worth more than $6 billion US before the end of June. The supplier would be either Boeing Co. or Airbus Industrie, and the deal would replace the Canadian carrier's entire fleet of wide-body jets over several years, CEO Robert Milton told the newspaper in an article published Thursday. ACE Aviation Holdings (TSX:ACE) recently secured $642 million US in financing and has previously signalled its plan to make a major aircraft order. Milton also said ACE will quickly pursue the sale of a stake...

Air Canada is seeing an upsurge in business as passengers opt to fly via Canada rather than brave the tighter visa and security regime facing transit passengers at US airports. The company says a growing number of international passengers are choosing to travel via Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal rather than US cities. Ben Smith, Air Canada's vice-president of planning, said the airline's traffic destined for Latin America originating outside Canada had trebled in the first 11 months of this year, compared with January to November 2003. Passengers flying between Brazil and Japan made up a sizeable part of the extra...

TORONTO (CP) - Air Canada CEO Robert Milton and the head of the country's largest private-sector union met face-to-face Thursday morning, with union leader Buzz Hargrove sounding pessimistic that a last-minute deal could be reached to save the struggling airline. "I'm not optimistic. I haven't been, through this whole thing," Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said before entering a meeting with Milton in to discuss a potential agreement on cost cuts seen as crucial to the company's restructuring hopes. Ontario Superior Court Justice Warren Winkler, who is supervising Air Canada's restructuring under protection from creditors, ordered the...

TORONTO - Air Canada, its unions and its creditors are scrambling Monday to find a new investor to lead a rescue of the insolvent airline after its main suitor said last Friday it was ready to bail out. Trinity Time Investments said it would not follow through on its planned $650-million investment in the airline "unless circumstances changed," citing a confrontational labour environment and a weaker-than-expected financial picture for Canada's biggest airline. Already, a few potential investors are rumoured to be interested in replacing Trinity and getting on board. Prof. Karl Moore, an airline analyst at McGill University, told CBC...

TORONTO - Air Canada's would-be new equity partner, Trinity Time Investments, said Friday it will not go ahead with its $650-million investment in Air Canada – at least for the time being – making good on an earlier threat to walk away if unions did not agree to more concessions. Trinity Time said it did not rule out getting involved in Air Canada's restructuring in the future "if circumstances change sufficiently." But its withdrawal raises serious questions about whether the airline will be able to find another key investor and that could jeopardize Air Canada's attempts to finish its restructuring...

Breaking on Fox.....

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a horrible experience I had at the airport when an Air Canada agent ripped up my boarding pass after I had asked her if I had an aisle seat. She then told me she was giving my seat — the last one on the plane — to someone else. I received quite a number of e-mails from readers who felt that they too had been treated badly by Air Canada employees. "Why does it feel like you are imprisoned and asking for a crumb of bread? I've been made to feel like...

Air Canada may be forced to ground its planes and shut down operations as early as today due to its precarious cash situation and its failure to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in concessions from pilots. The company's board of directors called an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the ailing airline's future, following a grim financial report delivered by Ernst & Young, the airline's court-appointed monitor. "The board will have to decide if it carries on with the business," said Murray McDonald of Ernst & Young, who is handling the Air Canada file. "They have some tough decisions to...

Air Canada: "We Will Emerge From Bankruptcy Stronger, More Capable of Providing Crappy Service Than Ever Before" A reader checks out Air Canada's message to Canadians regarding their "itty-bitty" financial troubles As Air Canada went into bankruptcy protection from creditors on April 1, the beleaguered national air carrier re-assured Canadians that the company will survive this latest setback.In a series of full-page ads that appeared recently in major Canadian dailies, the company was adamant that once it re-structures itself, it will once again be able to "underwhelm Canadians with the same level of shit service that the people of...

TORONTO (AP) - Air Canada said Tuesday it was filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors, seeking time to reorganize its business and negotiate concessions from unions and help from the government. Air Canada is by far the country's largest airline and the only scheduled Canadian carrier with an extensive route network to the United States and other foreign destinations. It employs more than 30,000 people.Shares in Air Canada sank to a 52-week low on Monday, and trading was halted Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange pending an announcement.The move means Air Canada will continue flying during a reorganization period, but...

October 20, 2001 F.B.I. Asks if Hijacking Plot Included Plane at Kennedy By MATTHEW L. WALD ASHINGTON, Oct. 19 — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether a United Airlines flight scheduled to leave Kennedy International Airport for San Francisco was a target of hijackers on Sept. 11, aviation and law enforcement officials said. The United plane, Flight 23, was late pushing back from the gate and was seventh in line for takeoff when Kennedy was closed because of the terrorist attacks. When the captain announced that the plane was returning to the gate, four male passengers ...

CTV has reported as breaking news that an Air Canada flight out of LAX has returned to LAX with a fighter escort because of an incident aboard. Nothing further.