Coronavirus Impact: Air Canada to Temporarily Cut Half Its WorkForce Under Cost Reduction Program

Air Canada introduced Monday it might briefly lay off almost half of its staff and scale back exercise by as much as 90 p.c within the second quarter because of the coronavirus. The measures would have an effect on 15,200 staff and about 1,300 managers from April 3, the airline stated in a press launch.

Last week, Air Canada — the primary Canadian airline to be hit onerous by the pandemic — introduced the short-term layoff of greater than 5,100 flight attendants, together with 1,500 members of its low-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge.

“The unpredictable extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic requires a significant overall response,” Air Canada president Calin Rovinescu stated within the assertion.

“To furlough such a large proportion of our employees is an extremely painful decision but one we are required to take given our dramatically smaller operations for the next while.” The Montreal-based firm will scale back operations for the second quarter of 2020 by 85 to 90 p.c in comparison with the identical interval the earlier yr.

A value discount program can be applied to generate “at least $500 million” (320 million euros). Senior executives will hand over part of their wage, and the president and chief monetary officer will hand over their complete wage.

Air Canada has suspended most of its worldwide flights, together with to the United States, after the announcement of the short-term closure of the US-Canada border in an try to cease the unfold of the coronavirus. The variety of airports in Canada it’s now serving has been lowered from 62 to 40. Air Canada employs 36,000 individuals all over the world, in keeping with the corporate web site.

Canada’s second-largest airline, Air Transat, which is being acquired by Air Canada, additionally introduced it might lay off almost 2,000 flight attendants, starting in early April.