Calgary-based WestJet has announced the grounding of hundreds of flights and laying off of employees in an attempt to remain viable in the face of continued COVID-19 travel restrictions and the collapse of the airline business globally..WestJet blamed the Liberal’s new pre-flight COVID-19 testing requirement for the current cliff-fall drop in business..The layoffs come on the heels of the government’s announcement December 30 of new restrictions requiring all passengers on flights entering Canada to provide negative COVID-19 test results prior to boarding..The new testing rules were implemented on January 7..Under the new rules, travellers must pass a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within a 72-hour period prior to boarding, however any travellers who are unable to procure tests before their flights home will still be allowed to travel – and therefore possibly infect other passengers on the flight..Any passengers boarding with a negative test result may of course been infected at any time during the 72 hours since testing, and may therefore also infect fellow passengers on the flight..Immediately upon their return to Canada those passengers without pre-flight testing are required to isolate at federally-approved sites until they obtain negative test results, said Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc..The remaining passengers – now possibly infected by the untested passengers, or otherwise infected since testing – will be allowed to self-quarantine following arrival..On Friday, Westjet announced a reduction in “capacity,” – equivalent to 1,000 employees – through a combination of furloughs, temporary layoffs, unpaid leaves and reduced hours. There is also a hiring freeze in place..“Immediately following the federal government’s inbound testing announcement on December 31, and with the continuation of the 14-day quarantine, we saw significant reductions in new bookings and unprecedented cancellations,” Ed Sims, WestJet CEO, said in a statement obtained by Global News..“Regrettably, this new policy leaves us with no other option but to again place a large number of our employees on leave, while impacting the pay of others,” said Sims..The company is removing around 30 per cent of its planned February and March capacity from the schedule, and will operate around 150 daily departures, “returning to levels not seen since June 2001.”.This includes the elimination of more than 230 weekly international flights and 160 domestic flights, including:.Edmonton to CancunEdmonton to Puerto VallartaEdmonton to PhoenixVancouver to CancunVancouver to PhoenixVancouver to Puerto VallartaVancouver to CaboVancouver to Los AngelesVancouver to Palm SpringsCalgary to Las VegasCalgary to Orlando..There is also “seasonal” suspension of 13 international and destinations, which include: Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Huatulco, Ixtapa, London (Gatwick), Mazatlan, Nassau (Bahamas), Port of Spain, San Jose (Costa Rica), Tampa, and Turks and Caicos, reported Global..These are not the first such COVID-layoffs. In March of last year the company announced the layoff of nearly half of its employees – 6,900 in total – and the grounding of 120 aircraft. .Ken Grafton is the Western Standards Ottawa Bureau Chief. He can be reached at kgrafton@westernstandardonline.com
