Westjet to cut 3,300 jobs amid destroyed air travel demand
Westjet Airlines will permanently lay off more than 3,000 employees across the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on air travel demand.
In a video message Wednesday, CEO Ed Sims announced major organizational changes at the Calgary-based airline including the consolidation of call centre activity in Calgary and the restructuring of office and management staff. In addition, airport operations at all domestic airports except Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto will be contracted out.
The restructuring will result in 3,333 permanent job losses, including 430 call centre positions (72 in Calgary, 73 in Vancouver, 35 in Halifax, and 250 in Moncton, N.B.), as well as 2,300 airport operations staff including customer service agents and baggage handlers. Sims said he is hopeful that whatever company Westjet ends up contracting its airport operations out to will ultimately be able to rehire many of the laid-off airport employees. In addition, 600 head office employees at Westjet and its low-cost subsidiary Swoop will lose their jobs.
“The reality in which we find ourselves requires difficult and often painful decisions to ensure our continued viability in the future. The result is that today is the toughest of all these difficult decisions,” Sims said. “Reducing Westjetter roles has always been a last resort. If there were other viable options available to us, we would be taking them.”
Prior to the pandemic, Westjet had 14,000 employees and flew to more than 100 destinations in 24 countries. It now has 10,000 employees remaining and half of these have been temporarily furloughed due to the suspension of nearly all of the company’s commercial transborder and international flights.
Westjet has been able to access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, which provides a 75-per-cent wage top-up for eligible employers, to keep many of its furloughed employees on the payroll — even though there is no work for them to do.