Air Canada announced on Tuesday the suspension of 17 international routes, at least until April 30, citing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a decision that will put more than 1,500 new employees on layoff.
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As of February 18, Air Canada will suspend 8 routes to the United States from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and 9 to other foreign destinations.
“
Unfortunately (...) the airline will also temporarily reduce its unionized workforce by 1,500 employees and an as yet undetermined number of employees from its management team
,” she said in a statement.
The company specifies that it will communicate with its customers whose reservations are affected "
to offer them various options, including alternative routes
."
This is yet another blow to employees of Air Canada, which had already announced in January about 1900 layoffs after new travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian government to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
At the end of January, Air Canada and three other Canadian companies also suspended, at Ottawa's request, flights between Canada and the "sun destinations", the Caribbean and Mexico, until April 30.
3 days of quarantine imposed in a hotel
As of February 15, the government will also impose on travelers arriving in Canada a mandatory PCR test and quarantine "
at their expense
" in a hotel for three days while awaiting the result.
From Toronto, Air Canada will suspend flights to five destinations in the United States (Fort Myers, Boston, Washington-Reagan, Denver and LaGuardia) and 6 elsewhere in the world (Bogota, Dublin, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Hong Kong and Tel -Aviv).
Three routes are suspended from Montreal (Boston, LaGuardia and Bogota) and Vancouver (Seattle, London and Narita).
Read also: Air Canada will cut up to 60% of its workforce
Air Canada has not provided new figures on its total number of employees, after having had to cut some 20,000 jobs since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, or more than 50% of its staff.