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Air Canada to layoff 15,000 staff due to coronavirus: internal memo
BY SPENCER GALLICHAN-LOWE ~POSTED MAR 30, 2020
An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is shown next to a gate at Trudeau Airport in Montreal on March 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Summary
- The company said the pandemic has been “devastating” for the business
- Air Canada said they will be ‘closed for business’ for most of the quarter
- The company’s CEO and other executives will not be taking a salary during this time
Air Canada will move ahead with plans to layoff 15,000 staff due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company made the announcement in a memo obtained by CityNews.
“Other than returning the remaining Canadians home and continuing a skeleton operation, we will be essentially ‘closed for business’ for most of the quarter,” said Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, executive vice president, chief human resources and communications officer.
The memo also said they are also putting one-third of their management, head office and administrative staff on a temporary two-month furlough.
Meloul-Wechsler said the pandemic has been devastating for the business.
“To put it in financial terms, last year, we generated approximately $4.7 billion of revenues in the second quarter,” Meloul-Wechsler said. “This year, as we enter the second quarter, we literally have no visibility on revenues for the quarter.”
She said the measures are needed to preserve company cash and that the staff reductions “are in no way a reflection of performance.”
In addition to the workplace reductions and furloughs, company CEO Calin Rovinescu, deputy CEO and CFO Mike Rousseau will not be taking a salary, she said.
“These are unprecedented times that require difficult decisions, all with a view to ensuring we emerge from this crisis poised to re-build this company that we all are invested in and love,” she added.