The Vancouver International Airport, pictured on March 19, 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, experienced waves of layoffs throughout the pandemic, including 1,700 job cuts on Jan. 13, 2021, and at least 1,500 job cuts on Feb. 9, 2021.
In February 2020, WestJet employed roughly 14,000 employees, but that number dropped after several rounds of layoffs to below 5,000, and the company currently employs about 8,400 people, as reported on March 15, 2022 by the Calgary Herald.Canada’s aviation sector is struggling to expand a workforce that was diminished during the COVID-19 pandemic, in anticipation of a surge in demand for air travel as the weather warms.Enjoy unlimited website access and the digital newspaper.