Air Transat has announced the closure of its Vancouver facilities, a decision that will affect 200 employees who must choose between leaving the company or relocating to Toronto or Montreal by next July.
• Also read: Why are flights currently so expensive?
Among the 200 employees are 192 flight attendants, seven pilots and one in-flight service manager.
This decision is part of the centralization of the airline’s operations in Eastern Canada.
“Support and a support program are in place to guide our teams through this transition process. Our local maintenance team will continue to be on hand to service our aircraft, said Bernard Côté, Air Transat’s director of marketing, public relations and social media. The number of Transat employees in Canada will therefore remain the same, but will henceforth be centralized in Montreal and Toronto, where we have a strong historical and commercial presence.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the majority of flight attendants in Canada, has criticized the situation and intends to negotiate with the employer severance pay for employees who lose their jobs, as well as support for those who become relocated.
“Despite our understanding of the economic imperatives that forced Air Transat to make this unfortunate decision, the fact remains that, for the most part, our Vancouver members have given the company many decades of loyal service. Transat must live up to its responsibilities to its employees, whom it will lay off or transfer thousands of miles away. Our union will do everything to offer them the best possible conditions,” commented Dominic Levasseur, President of CUPE’s Air Transat component.
Flight schedule and frequency of flights to and from Vancouver will be maintained.