STORY: Air Canada expects to cancel the majority of its estimated 700 daily flights on Friday ahead of a planned Saturday strike by unionized flight attendants.:: FileThe country’s largest carrier operates over 250 aircraft on flights to more than 65 countries.

The dominant air carrier in Canada set in motion a process that could ground 130,000 passengers a day by Saturday.

About 500 flights would be grounded by midnight Friday, and it would take about a week to restore full operations once a labor agreement is reached, the company said.