Adds context Jan 8 (Reuters) - Canada's WestJet Airways men
Adds context
Jan 8 (Reuters) – Canada’s WestJet Airways mentioned on Friday it would scale back capability, impacting the jobs of about1,000 employees, because the provider faces risky demand attributable to mounting authorities restrictions to curb the unfold of the novel coronavirus.
Privately-held WestJet, the nation’s second-largest provider, introduced additional cuts to its schedule, launched a hiring freeze, and mentioned the equal of 1,000 staff could be impacted via a mixture of furloughs, momentary layoffs, unpaid leaves and diminished hours.
WestJet’s announcement follows new Canadian guidelines that passengers would want to check destructive for the coronavirus earlier than boarding a aircraft sure for Canada, beginning on Jan. 7.
“Instantly following the federal authorities’s inbound testing announcement on Dec. 31, and with the continuation of the 14-day quarantine, we noticed important reductions in new bookings and unprecedented cancellations,” Ed Sims, WestJet president and CEO mentioned in an announcement.
International airways have been calling for COVID-19 testing as a solution to ease journey restrictions and reopen borders with out crippling quarantine measures, however Canada nonetheless requires passengers who’ve traveled overseas to self-isolate for 14 days.
Information of the shock Canadian measure left airways afraid of potential confusion over which testing services overseas have been eligible and the way the outcomes from the PCR (polymerase chain response) take a look at have to be offered to carriers.
WestJet on Thursday mentioned it needed to deny 10 passengers from boarding one flight for missing the correct take a look at for the novel coronavirus, simply after the requirement that passengers present proof of a destructive outcome earlier than boarding took impact.
(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Modifying by Maju Samuel and Marguerita Choy)
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