WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2021) Canadian air carrier WestJet is reducing its staff capacity by 1,000 positions after the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweaked entry requirements mandating negative COVID-19 tests in order to board an inbound flight, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The company will remove 30 percent of flights from its schedule for February and March - an 80 percent reduction year over year - after the Federal government announced that all incoming airline passengers must present a negative COVID-19 test result administered no later than 72 hours prior to takeoff in order to be allowed to board the plane.
"As a result of the reduction in capacity, the equivalent of 1,000 employees across the WestJet Group of Companies will be impacted through a combination of furloughs, temporary layoffs, unpaid leaves and reduced hours," WestJet said in a press release, which called the new testing regime "rushed."
WestJet President and CEO Ed Sims called the government's travel policy "incoherent and inconsistent," saying that officials have had ten months to get the testing regime right.
Sims' comments echo other industry leaders, including National Airlines Council of Canada President Mike McNaney, who said in an interview last week that the new directive has the industry flying blind, without guidance or information needed to implement an overly complex policy.
