On December 30, WestJet announced that it will cut flights by approximately 15% for the month of January.
CEO Harry Taylor announced the news with a written statement.
"Despite all contingency planning, in addition to hiring back thousands of WestJetters to safely support peak operations, we find ourselves no longer able to predictably resource our planned schedule due to Omicron impact and have made the difficult decision to consolidate approximately 15 percent of scheduled flights through to January 31, 2022."
Taylor added: "We could not have anticipated the rapid and unpredictable impact of the Omicron variant on our people and operations, coupled with prolonged frigid temperatures across Western Canada and global staffing shortages."
The airline said that schedule changes will be implemented over the coming days, and called the move "the best option to ensure the availability of our frontline staff and third-party service providers, while minimizing the impact on our guests."
WestJet says all guests with impacted flights will be proactively notified. For any WestJet-initiated cancellation or schedule change, where the schedule change was greater than 90 minutes or one or more stops were added, guests are eligible for a refund to original form of payment, or can utilize WestJet's flexible change and cancel policies.
The airline is calling for additional measures from federal and provincial governments to minimize disruption.
"Canada has an envious global leadership position in vaccination rates and transportation is the only fully-vaccinated ecosystem and the most tested consumer activity in Canada," Taylor said.
"National alignment and standardization for our sector, similar to the approaches being taken by provinces to stabilize other essential services such as healthcare, would remove inconsistent provincial isolation requirements that are restricting staffing abilities.
We are actively engaging with the federal and provincial governments in light of evolving scientific data available on the Omicron variant, as changes would aid us, along with our sector, in more effectively scheduling crew and employees, while maintaining essential air service for Canadian communities."
Taylor added an apology to WestJet customers inconvenienced by the flight cuts, and pledged to provide "transparent updates" in the days ahead.
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