WestJet cuts 20% of its scheduled flights due to impacts of Omicron

Jan 18 2022, 4:26 pm

WestJet is reducing more of its scheduled flights due to Omicron’s impact on staffing levels.

They will consolidate 20% of its scheduled flights from February 1 through to February 28, 2022, the Canadian airline said on Tuesday in a news release.

“As we continue to navigate the unpredictability of the Omicron variant on our staffing levels along with the ongoing barriers to international travel, we are making every effort to proactively manage our schedule in order to minimize disruption to our guests’ travel plans,” said Harry Taylor, interim president and CEO, in a statement.

These flight reductions are in addition to reductions announced in December.

The company says it’ll notify impacted travellers about changes to their flights by email, so be on the lookout for that notification. It adds that flexible change and cancel guidelines and schedule change refund policies remain in place.

“We continue to advocate for the elimination of cumbersome travel rules that are unnecessarily impacting Canadians and prolonging the recovery of the travel and tourism sector,” added Taylor.

“Canada remains one of the only countries in the world requiring multiple molecular tests for fully-vaccinated travellers — these testing resources should be redeployed to our communities.”

This news comes a day after WestJet, Air Canada, and Toronto Pearson airport penned an open letter asking the federal government to remove mandatory PCR tests at airports.

Isabelle DoctoIsabelle Docto

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