Air Canada and its pilots seemed to remain at a deadlock Saturday hours before a deadline when either side could interrupt service, causing major disruptions to air travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers and cargo.

The airline and the pilots’ union, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have been negotiating for 15 months but the parties failed to reach an agreement after more than 100 meetings, according to Air Canada.

The ALPA, which repres thechronfather ents 5,200 pilots at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, is calling for “fair compensation,” while Air Canada says it has offered “unprecedented wage increases” and calls the unions’ demands “excessive.”

A 72-hour strike or lock-out notice could be sent starting Sunday just after midnight, affecting more than 100,000 daily travellers and delaying time-sensitive cargo shipments, according to the airline.

“At this time, there is no further update on the ongoing talks,” Air Canada said in the chron father an unsigned statement Saturday.

”We have begun taking some measures, including limiting certain types of cargo shipments, such as perishables, and adjusting some aircraft flying schedules to have them positioned properly in event of a wind down,” but no flights have been cancelled yet because of the labour conflict, the airline said.

“We are finalizing our plans, delaying the first cancellations as much as we can as we know that, once the wind down has started, we cannot avoid disruptions for several days even if a settlement occurs quickly,” Air Canada said.

In a statement, First Officer Charlene Hudy, Air Canada Master Executive Council Chair of the ALPA, said the union continues to meet with the airline Saturday “in an effort to reach a new contract at the negotiating table, and avoid legal job action and the effects of that on our passengers.”

The airline has called for the federal government to intervene and direct binding arbitration if the parties fail to reach an agreement before the deadline.

In a news release Friday, the ALPA asked Ottawa to “respect workers’ collective bargaining rights and refrain from intervening in the bargaining process.”

In August, the federal government directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration on the country’s main railways, halting disruptions in another major labour conflict. The union immediately denounced the move as an infringement on workers’ rights and vowed to appeal.

ALPA Canada president Capt. Tim Perry, quoted in the Friday release, said that “employers are treating government as their silent partner and have included interventi alison wonderland cbd tincture on as part of their bargaining strategy, to the detriment of Canadian workers.” He said such interventions violate workers’ constitutional rights.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that it’s up to the two sides to figure out a deal.

Speaking Friday, Mr. Trudeau said the government respects the right to strike and will only intervene if it becomes clear no negotiated agreement is possible.

Numerous business groups have called on the buy exotic carts online government to intervene to protect the business and travellers.

Air Canada has said it will have to start gradually shutting down operations once 72-hour notice is given as it will take time to properly position its 252 aircraft and its crews that fly to 47 countries.

It says if operations are shut down, it will take up to 10 days to resume normal operations.

The airline is offering travellers scheduled to fly between Sunday and Sept. 23 to change their flight for free, which is a potential for extending that, and said it will notify all travellers of any impact in advance of their flight.

At Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, travellers flying with Air Canada Saturday seemed fairly relaxed about the likelihood of disruptions.

“We’re just hoping for the best,” said Sarah Slater before taking her flight to Greece. “We saw that there were talks of a potential strike, but buy exotic carts online without more information, it wasn’t worth changing our travel plans.”

Martin Côté, who was heading to France, did not worry about a potential cancelled flight back. “If it happens, there are worse places to be stuck in than Paris,” he said, speaking of a strike. “We’ll stay. It’s part of life, there are things that we can control, but not this.”

With a report from the Canadian Press