By Skies Magazine | January 19, 2022 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 2 seconds.
WestJet on Jan. 18 announced it has made the “difficult decision” to consolidate 20 percent of its scheduled flights from Feb. 1 through to Feb. 28, due to the Covid-19 Omicron variant spreading rapidly among its staff. The decision follows the Dec. 31, 2021, announcement that the airline would consolidate 15 percent of its scheduled flights through January — which, so far, has translated to the cancelation of over 1,200 flights. (An up-to-date list of flight cancelations in January is available here.)
As of Jan. 18, the number of active Covid cases among WestJet Group employees was 547. The airline noted that this number does not include its service partners “who are navigating the same circumstances as WestJet.”
In addition to the rapid spread of Omicron, WestJet cited “prolonged frigid temperatures across Western Canada and global staffing shortages” as contributing factors to the flight reductions.
“As we continue to navigate the unpredictability of the Omicron variant on our staffing levels along with the ongoing barriers to international travel, we are making every effort to proactively manage our schedule in order to minimize disruption to our guests’ travel plans,” said Harry Taylor, Interim WestJet Group president and CEO. “To our guests impacted by these additional consolidations, we sincerely apologize for the disruption and appreciate your continued understanding and patience.”
The airline is ensuring that its impacted travelers will be “proactively notified” within the next few days of changes to their itineraries via email.
In WestJet’s latest announcement, Taylor reiterated that additional measures are “urgently needed” from the federal and provincial governments to minimize disruption.
“We continue to advocate for the elimination of cumbersome travel rules that are unnecessarily impacting Canadians and prolonging the recovery of the travel and tourism sector,” he said. “Canada remains one of the only countries in the world requiring multiple molecular tests for fully-vaccinated travellers — these testing resources should be redeployed to our communities.”
Taylor noted that Canada has an “envious global leadership position” in vaccination rates, and transportation is the only fully-vaccinated ecosystem and the most tested consumer activity in Canada.
“National alignment and standardization for our sector, similar to the approaches being taken by provinces to stabilize other essential services such as healthcare, would remove inconsistent provincial isolation requirements that are restricting staffing abilities,” said Taylor.
“We are actively engaging with the federal and provincial governments in light of evolving scientific data available on the Omicron variant, as changes would aid us, along with our sector, in more effectively scheduling crew and employees, while maintaining essential air service for Canadian communities.”
