WestJet drops most Atlantic Canada flights after demand ‘obliterated’ by travel restrictions
Barbara Shecter
other
Eliminates almost 80 per cent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region — after airline boosted routes there
WestJet president and CEO Ed Sims: The demand for travel has been “severely limited by restrictive policies and third-party fee increases” on top of a lack of federal support for the industry. Photo by Gavin Young /Postmedia
In a clear sign of the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on the travel industry, WestJet Airlines Ltd. said Wednesday that it will suspend many of its flights in Atlantic Canada indefinitely beginning Nov. 2, a move that will eliminate more than 100 weekly flights.
The Calgary-based airline, which was purchased by private equity firm Onex Corp. in December, is completely discontinuing service to Fredericton and Moncton, N.B.; Sydney, N.S.; Charlottetown; and Quebec City. It is also “significantly” reducing service to Halifax and St. John’s.
The suspension eliminates almost 80 per cent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region and the airline’s only route to Quebec’s second-largest city, a four-times-weekly flight from Toronto.
“It has become increasingly unviable to serve these markets,” Ed Sims, WestJet’s chief executive, said in a statement, adding that the airline has been working since the pandemic was declared in March to maintain essential air service to domestic airports.
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He said the company is now “out of runway” to maintain certain routes, with demand for travel “severely limited by restrictive policies and third-party fee increases” and in the absence of “sector-specific support” from government.
Canadian airline officials including Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu have repeatedly called for an easing of 14-day mandatory quarantines after travel — which they say have decimated business travel — or bailout funds such as those given to airlines in the United States and Europe.
Canadian airline officials have also decried mandatory quarantines and periods of self-isolation for travellers to and from some regions within the country.
In WestJet’s statement Wednesday announcing the flight suspensions, the airline noted that it had been the only Canadian carrier to maintain its full pre-COVID-19 domestic flight network for this long.
“While we remain committed to the Atlantic region, it’s impossible to say when there will be a return to service without support for a co-ordinated domestic approach,” said Sims, adding that it would have to be “economically viable” to reinstate suspended flights.
Canada’s Atlantic region has been among the most successful at reducing the spread of COVID-19 by creating a “bubble” that requires visitors from outside the region to quarantine or self-isolate for 14 days, among other travel restrictions. There were fewer than 100 active cases in the region on Wednesday.
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It’s impossible to say when there will be a return to service without support
Ed Sims, CEO, WestJet
But that hasn’t been a boon to the airline industry, according to Morgan Bell, a spokesperson for WestJet. Rather, it has “obliterated” demand for travel to and from the region because each province has its own form of application and approval process, including fines for non-compliance or denial of travel without approved documentation.
“These patchworks of domestic travel restrictions and quarantine periods that are currently in place within our own borders are severely limiting Canada’s economic recovery and putting hundreds of thousands of jobs in our critical industry at risk,” Bell said.
Prior to the pandemic, WestJet had beefed up competition in Atlantic Canada by adding 28 routes either into or within the region in recent years. In addition, nonstop transatlantic flights to London, Paris, Glasgow and Dublin were introduced “to grow Halifax as the Atlantic gateway to Europe,” the company said Wednesday.
In addition to announcing the suspension and reduction of domestic flights in Atlantic Canada, WestJet said it would permanently lay off 100 corporate and operational support employees due to fading prospects for any near-term recovery as demand remains weak across its operations. The airline said an earlier reorganization triggered by the pandemic means the latest layoffs do not include staff from airports in Atlantic Canada.
In June, WestJet contracted out airport operations in all domestic airports except Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto, and consolidated call centre activity in Alberta.
© 2020 Financial Post