TORONTO (AP) — Air Canada started canceling flights on Thursday ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travelers.

A complete shutdown of the country’s largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day.

The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice.

Mark Nasr, Chief Operations Officer for Air Canada, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.

“All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning,” he said.

Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart “which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.”

He said a firs

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