Air Canada (TSX:AC) has suspended more than 800 employees for not being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The vast majority of Air Canada’s 27,000 cabin crew, customer service agents and others have received both vaccines, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Rousseau said in a news release.
The Montreal-based carrier says more than 96% of its staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The employees who are not vaccinated or do not have a medical or other permitted exemption and have been put on unpaid leave.
The federal government announced last month that as of October 30, Ottawa would require federally regulated air, rail and shipping companies to establish mandatory vaccination policies for all employees.
The layoffs were announced as part of Air Canada’s latest quarterly results. The airline said it is seeing stronger sales for winter flights, despite continuing to operate far below pre-pandemic capacity and at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Domestic leisure bookings have bounced back, prompting a recall of more than 10,000 laid-off employees since the start of the year – 6,500 of them since July. But business travel remains down across the board due to the continuing remote work trend.
Air Canada said its revenue nearly tripled year-over-year to $2.10 billion in the quarter ended September 30, beating expectations by more than 15%, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv. Capacity on Air Canada flights increased by 87% on an annualized basis.
But revenue fell more than 60% short of Air Canada’s third-quarter figures in 2019, before the pandemic, while capacity remained two-thirds lower, as COVID-19 fallout continues to dent the carriers’ bottom lines.
Air Canada reported a loss of $640 million in its third quarter. The loss amounted to $1.79 per share compared with a loss of $685 million or $2.31 per diluted share a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of $554.7 million, or $1.44 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
In its outlook, Air Canada said it plans to expand its fourth-quarter capacity by about 135% compared with the same period in 2020. However, that capacity – calculated using an industry metric called available seat miles – will barely reach half the amount of its pre-pandemic level.
Air Canada’s share price closed up $1.01 or 4.4%, at $24.02 yesterday (November 2).