Business

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

An Air Canada aircraft is unloaded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Enfield, N.S. on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Air Canada says it will hire more than 900 employees over the next year to meet its planned workforce requirements, and an additional 200 at its low-cost carrier.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Air Canada plans to hire about 1,100 employees, including 200 at its new low-cost carrier, as the airline moves ahead with growth plans following a spate of labour conflicts with its major unions.

The airline said Thursday the jobs are part of its strategy to "seize new commercial opportunities, enhance customer service and renew our workforce."

Air Canada says it will hire approximately 400 flight attendants and some 500 airport customer service agents and baggage handlers. Sixty customer service agents will be hired for call centres in Montreal and Toronto.

The company, which has been beset by labour problems that have hurt both its reputation and its share price, cited attrition as one of the main drivers behind the hiring of customer service agents and flight attendants.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said he didn't have exact number of employees lost through attrition or departures through retirement and career changes.

But, he added that the number of hires is carefully calculated to replace those employees as well as augment the workforce, while keeping costs low.