Transat to lay off 70% of Canadian staff, plans April operational halt

Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat will suspend all flights April 1, while its parent Transat AT is laying off some 3,600 Canadian employees due to the coronavirus crisis. The layoffs account for about 70% of the company’s Canadian workforce and include “flight crew personnel”, says Transat, which intends to halt operations until April 30. “Operations are being stopped gradually in order to enable Transat to repatriate as many of its customer as possible to their home countries,” says the company. Since March 18, Air Transat had brought some 40,000 customers back to Canada from Transat’s destinations outside Canada. Some 25,000 customers remain outside the country, Transat says. <br/>