New layoffs for November at Transat

Air Transat is continuing its major cuts and will likely drop to fewer than 160 flight attendants in November, compared to 355 in August, after the severe blow caused by flight restrictions due to the COVID pandemic. 19.

In addition, Transat’s Vancouver base, which had remained open with very low volume so far, will close completely until further notice.

“While Canadian borders remain closed much more hermetically than those of most countries and a quarantine is still imposed on those returning to Canada, while no sectoral assistance has yet been implemented for companies aircraft, the outlook unfortunately does not improve in the near future, ”Christophe Hennebelle, Vice-President of Human Resources and Public Affairs at Transat, told QMI Agency on Friday.

“So we have to lay off some of the employees we recalled for our July resumption,” he added.

The news was first unveiled by the Air Transat component of the Civil Service Union (CUPE) on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Hennebelle specified that two-thirds of the company’s workforce is currently on temporary layoff, compared to 85% in May.

After the complete cessation of activities on April 1, the Quebec tour operator resumed certain trips on July 23.

These new layoffs are intended to plug the significant losses caused by the pandemic.

Note that Air Canada increased its initial purchase offer from $ 720 million to $ 190 million to acquire Transat last week, almost four times less.

The revised agreement recently signed by Air Canada and Transat, and made public last Wednesday, provides that the Quebec tour operator must put in place a “workforce reduction plan”.

Before the pandemic, Transat had an active workforce of 5,100 people.