Editing Air Canada (section)

===Strategic changes (1990s)===
[[File:Star Alliance (Air Canada) Airbus A340-313 C-FYLD (23761975652).jpg|thumb|An Air Canada [[Airbus A340-300]] in [[Star Alliance]] livery, 1997. Air Canada was a founding member of the [[airline alliance]], established in 1997.]]

In the early 1990s, Air Canada encountered financial difficulties as the airline industry slumped in the aftermath of the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]].<ref name=awst/> In response, the airline restructured management by hiring former [[Delta Air Lines]] executive Hollis L. Harris as its CEO. Harris restructured the airline's operations, reduced management positions, moved the corporate headquarters to [[Dorval Airport]],<ref name=awst/> and sold the ''[[enRoute (credit card)|enRoute]]'' card business to [[Diners Club]] in 1992.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEED8163BF934A15750C0A964958260 | title=Air Canada Sells Credit Card Unit | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=24 May 2009 | date=27 March 1992 | archive-date=14 February 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214131629/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEED8163BF934A15750C0A964958260 | url-status=live }}</ref> By 1994, Air Canada returned to profitability.<ref name=awst/> The same year also saw the carrier winning route access to fly from Canada to the new [[Kansai International Airport|Kansai Airport]] in Osaka, Japan.<ref name=awst/>

In 1995, taking advantage of a new US-Canada [[open skies]] agreement, Air Canada added 30 new trans-border routes.<ref name=awst/> In May 1997, Air Canada became a founding member of the [[Star Alliance]], with the airline launching [[codesharing|codeshares]] with several of the alliance's members. The second half of the 1990s saw the airline earn consistent profits, totalling $1&nbsp;billion for the 1997 to 1999 period.<ref name=awst/>

On 2 September 1998, pilots for Air Canada launched the company's first pilots' strike,<ref name=Macleans21Sep1998>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011771 |title=Air Canada Strike Settled |magazine=[[Maclean's]] |access-date=24 May 2009 |date=21 September 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213214148/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011771 |archive-date=13 February 2009 }}</ref> demanding higher wages.<ref name=AChist/> At the end of 1999, the Canadian government relaxed some aviation regulations, aiming to consolidate the Canadian airline industry. That year, [[American Airlines]] in conjunction with Canadian financial company Onex Corp, launched takeover bids for ailing rival Canadian Airlines and Air Canada, spurring Air Canada to submit a competing offer for its largest rival.<ref name=awst/>