Business
Transat confirms the temporary layoff of 70% of its staff - Repatriation operations to end April 1
Transat confirms the temporary layoff of 70% of its staff - Repatriation operations to end...
About this update from Transat A.t. Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nTransat confirms the temporary layoff of 70% of its staff - Repatriation operations to end April 1\n\n/* Style Definitions */\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada NewsWire\nMONTREAL, March 23, 2020\n\n\n\nMONTREAL, March 23, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Transat A.T. Inc. announces that it has temporarily laid off about 70% of its workforce in Canada. The final Air Transat flight prior to the full suspension of its operations is scheduled for April 1.\nOn March 18, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Transat announced the gradual temporary halting of all its flights until April 30.\nOperations are being stopped gradually in order to enable Transat to repatriate as many of its customers as possible to their home countries.\nAs of March 18, some 65,000 Canadian Transat customers were at Sun or Europe destinations. By March 22, about 40,000, or more than 60 % of them, had been returned to Canada.\nSimultaneously, as also announced March 18, Transat has been forced to proceed with layoffs affecting about 70% of its staff, or 3,600 people. Some of these layoffs are effective immediately, while others will take effect following advance notice of up to one month. They include all flight crew personnel. Similar measures are being implemented in the other countries where Transat has employees. Executives who are not being laid off have accepted voluntary pay cuts, as have members of the Board of Directors.\n\"We are very much in agreement with the measures being taken to fight the spread of the virus and protect the public's health. As a community, we have to do what is necessary to stop the pandemic,\" said Transat President and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Eustache.\nHe added: \"These measures have forced us to totally suspend our operations. We have done this in such a way that none of our customers are stuck far from home, and we are in the process of bringing them back. We expect to have finished doing this by April 1, and we will then totally halt our flights. At the same time, in order to safeguard the company, we have unfortunately had to proceed with layoffs that affe...