WestJet Airlines cuts routes, cites ‘incoherent’ Canada Covid rules

Bloomberg

WestJet Airlines Ltd said it would reduce capacity by a further 30% in February and March, affecting the jobs or pay of roughly 1,000 employees and bringing the number of domestic and international flights it operates down to levels not seen in almost 20 years.
The cuts come after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government ordered travellers to present a recent negative Covid-19 test before being allowed to board flights into Canada. The new rules took effect last week.
After that requirement was announced, the Calgary-based company saw “significant
reductions in new bookings and unprecedented cancellations,” WestJet CEO Ed Sims said.
“The entire travel industry and its customers are again on the receiving end of incoherent and inconsistent government policy,” Sims said in a company statement. “We have advocated over the past 10 months for a coordinated 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.”
Trudeau’s ministers and the airline sector have been locked in tense discussions over a possible government relief package since the pandemic began in March 2020. Official talks began in November with Transport Minister Marc Garneau saying any state aid would have conditions, including issuing refunds for unused tickets. The government has insisted that airlines not cut domestic routes.
The Globe and Mail reported that Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia was playing a lead role in working with the airlines to provide aid.
Overall, after the new cuts are made through March, WestJet will have reduced its capacity roughly 80% from a year earlier. More than 230 additional weekly departures will be dropped, including 160 domestic flights, and 11 international routes will be suspended.