Air Canada says a labour arbitrator has awarded 6,000 flight attendants wage increases of five per cent over three years, ending a series of arbitration awards linked to the Montreal airline's emergence from bankruptcy court protection a few years ago.

Canada's largest carrier said late Tuesday that arbitrator Tom Jolliffe had given the CUPE-represented flight attendants a two per cent increase effective last summer, another 1.75 per cent effective this July and 1.75 per cent in July 2008.

The arbitration was part of a provision in the contracts reached between the company and its unions in 2003 that were required for Air Canada to cut costs and recover from bankruptcy protection under the federal Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

“With the receipt of this decision, the wage review process agreed to with all labour groups in 2003 has concluded,” the airline said.

Arbitrators have already awarded similar wage increases to other Air Canada employees, including 10,800 technical, maintenance and operational support workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Earlier, about 5,540 Air Canada employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers union won raises under a separate arbitration award. The airline's 3,100 pilots got 5.5 per cent increases.

The arbitration awards were part of a process under which Air Canada's employees were allowed to recover some of their wages lost during the restructuring once the airline had returned to profitability.

At the time, the carrier created a holding company, shed debt, trimmed its workforce and streamlined operations as it emerged from court protection. The company is now solidly profitable and has been spinning off parts of its operating subsidiaries to raise money for expansion.