Air Canada said it remains available to continue negotiations with its flight attendants as it winds down operations ahead of a potential labor disruption.

Air Canada began cancelling flights on Thursday after receiving a strike notice from the flight attendants' union, warning all operations could be shut down by Saturday. Chief operating officer Mark Nasr told reporters Thursday that the airline had begun "a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.

Air Canada plans to cancel at least 500 flights through Friday and shut down operations completely by Saturday morning.