WestJet puts 1,000 workers on leave
CEO Sims blasts `incoherent' policy of testing returning travellers for COVID
CALGARY The CEO of WestJet Airlines Ltd. is laying the blame squarely on “incoherent” policy from Ottawa as his carrier cuts staff and flights in response to new COVID-19 testing requirements for passengers returning to Canada.
The Calgary-based airline announced Friday about 1,000 employees will be furloughed, temporarily laid off, put on unpaid leave or have their hours cut, and it will chop about 30 per cent of its capacity for February and March and pull 160 domestic departures from its schedule.
Trip cancellations and reductions in new bookings began immediately after the federal government warned of the inbound testing rules and continued requirement for a 14-day quarantine on Dec. 31, WestJet CEO Ed Sims said in a statement.
“The entire travel industry and its customers are again on the receiving end of incoherent and inconsistent government policy,”' he said.
“We have advocated over the past 10 months for a co-ordinated testing regime on Canadian soil, but this hasty new measure is causing Canadian travellers unnecessary stress and confusion and may make travel unaffordable, unfeasible and inaccessible for Canadians for years to come.”
The new flight cuts mean WestJet will have reduced flights by more than 80 per cent compared with the same time last year, it said.
International capacity will be down 93 per cent year over year and only five daily flights will be offered compared with 100 last year. Overall, the airline will offer 150 daily departures, returning to levels not seen since 2001, it said.
WestJet said it currently has 5,700 active and 5,200 inactive employees, down from over 14,000 before the pandemic erupted.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday pointed out $1.5 billion in aid has flowed to the aviation industry through the federal wage subsidy and other relief measures, though none was specific to the ailing sector. “People shouldn't be travelling, and that of course is a direct challenge for the airline industry to manage through. At the same time we've made it very clear that we expect people to be reimbursed (for cancelled flights), we expect regional routes to be protected,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
The government warned in a tweet Friday afternoon that hundreds of passengers could be stranded in Jamaica indefinitely.
The country has reduced testing capacity, Ottawa's travel advisory says.
WestJet issued an “urgent notice” to passengers slated to fly home this weekend from Montego Bay, where there is a “lack of testing capacity,” the company said. It said travellers in Jamaica were having trouble finding anywhere to book a test.
Thirty-six flights are scheduled to depart Jamaica for Canada on five different airlines — four of them Canadian — between Friday and Jan. 17, according to flight data firm Cirium.
The federal government said last week that Canada-bound air passengers would have to provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test result in order to board their flight — a requirement that took effect on Thursday.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Wednesday the restrictions would go ahead as planned to coincide with the expiration of Canada's ban on flights from the United Kingdom. Canada halted most air travel from the U.K., where a mutated strain of COVID-19 had been discovered, on Dec. 20.
Airlines and passengers had a turbulent 24 hours under the new testing regime. WestJet said it had to deny boarding to 32 passengers on its six international flights into Canada on Thursday. “Yesterday was a very busy day,” said spokeswoman Morgan Bell.
The travellers were turned away due to improper tests — antigen or antibody tests, rather than the required PCR test common in Canada and involving a deep nasal swab — no test at all, or one taken more than 72 hours before departure, she said.
“Our team on the ground has rebooked guests affected and is assisting with finding eligible tests whenever possible to ensure they can return to Canada at a later date,” Bell said.