Air Canada to Lay Off More Than 5,000 Flight Attendants Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

An Air Canada jet takes off from Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Enfield, N.S., in a file photo. A union official says Air Canada is laying off more than 5,000 flight attendants as the country's largest airline cuts routes and parks planes due to COVID-19. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

MONTREAL—A union official says Air Canada is laying off more than 5,000 flight attendants as the country’s largest airline cuts routes and parks planes due to COVID-19.

Wesley Lesosky, who heads the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), says the carrier is laying off about 3,600 mainline employees as well as all of Air Canada Rouge’s 1,549 flight attendants.