Air Canada will temporarily lay off more than 15,000 unionized workers beginning this week as the airline struggles with effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Air Canada will temporarily lay off 16,500 employees starting this week as the airline struggles with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effective this Friday, the layoffs of 15,200 unionized workers and 1,300 managers will last through April and May amid drastically reduced flight capacity from the Montreal-based airline.
“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,” chief executive officer Calin Rovinescu said in a statement.
Rovinescu and CFO Michael Rousseau will forego 100 per cent of their salaries for the second quarter, the company said in a statement. O