Air Canada said it will gradually restart operations after reaching an agreement early on Tuesday with the union for 10,000 flight attendants to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers.

Air Canada and the union representing 10,000 flight attendants resumed talks late Monday for the first time since the strike began over the weekend. The strike is affecting about 130,000 travelers a day at the peak of the summer travel season.

Canadian regulators order union leaders to end Air Canada's work stoppage on Monday, while employees remain defiant.

Air Canada and a union representing the airline’s flight attendants have come to a tentative agreement, ending a days-long strike that canceled thousands of flights and stranded passengers.

Flight attendants went on strike after Air Canada gave wage increases to certain employees, including pilots with a 26% rise in 2024, a mostly male-filed role according to CUPE. In contrast, the union said that flight attendants, who are mainly women, received a lower 8% increase in 2025.

The airline said that it would gradually restart operations Tuesday but that a return to "full restoration may require a week or more."

Air Canada says it plans to announce a new "exceptional policy" in which the company will cover transportation expenses incurred by customers while getting to their destinations during the recent work stoppage.