Fellow FCMs,  

This morning, your MEC had its regular monthly meeting with Sunwing Management.  

The following are important updates from this meeting.  

It is bittersweet to officially announce the sunset of Sunwing Airlines. Today, the first 70 FCMs transitioning to WestJet in March received their Report Date letters, set for March 2, 2025. The Company has opted to delay issuing Report Dates for the remaining FCMs. The letter contains a lengthy onboarding document that explains how to access the required WestJet resources and support services. Once a FCM reports to WestJet, the expectation will be that they make use of WestJet’s resources for any training support or assistance they might need. The FCM’s relationship with Sunwing Flight Ops and training will come to an end as of their Report Date. 

We have asked (numerous times) for a complete list of WestJet Report Dates for all our members to be published. WestJet has decided that the letter and process might need ‘tweaking’ after the first 70 report, and therefore, they don’t want to publish the communication and Report Dates for everyone until closer to each individual Report Date. We will continue to put pressure on the company to release the full list. Regardless, all Report Dates will have to be known prior to the March vacation bid. The vacation bid should be published late February.  

The wind down of Sunwing Airlines will now start to happen quite rapidly. WestJet is determined to do this transition as quickly as possible in order to preserve their busy summer schedule. In March, it is expected that 5 Sunwing aircraft will transition to WestJet. That will leave the Sunwing fleet short of lift for the planned schedule. WestJet will be increasing the number of their wet lease planes flying for Sunwing from the current 4 aircraft up to 5.  

In addition to the new WestJet wet lease, Sunwing will be chartering an Airbus 330 to fly for 28 days during our busy March season. Obviously, we are not happy with this however we need to be realistic. All Sunwing Vacations flying is now WestJet flying and we are in the end times of Sunwing. As we head towards the final Sunwing flight on May 28th, more and more flying will be taken over to WestJet and unfortunately there is nothing in our Collective Agreement to prevent these wet leases.  

We know this period is going to be a stressful time for all our pilots. The mental health supports at Sunwing, such as InkBlot, will continue to be available to FCMs until their WestJet Report Date. WestJet also offers employee support, and those programs will be available to FCMs as of their first day of training. Lastly, we would like to remind everyone that ALPA offers a Pilot Assistance Program that can be accessed by calling 1-888-FLY-ALPA, online here, or within the ALPA app. 

A list of the 70 FCMs who have been assigned WestJet Report Dates is attached to this email. Your MEC will continue to update the membership with names and Report Dates as soon as we learn them. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to swgmecofficers@alpa.org with any questions or concerns you may have. 

In unity, 

Your MEC