pearson airport jobs

Toronto Pearson Airport cuts hundreds of jobs due to lack of travel

With airlines operating on drastically reduced flight schedules and countries worldwide upholding travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, people continue to put vacation plans on hold, and airports remain eerily quiet.

Toronto Pearson International Airport is still so dead, in fact, that it's just decided to lay off hundreds of employees — some of them executive staffers, and some effective immediately.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) announced on Tuesday that it will be terminating 500 positions, which amounts to more than a quarter of its total workforce.

It also has plans to further restructure amid a devastating reduction of travel in recent months — down as much as 97 per cent from the same time last year, the authority said in a press release.

"The pandemic and resulting economic contraction has had, and is expected to continue to have, a negative impact on demand for air travel globally," the GTAA says, adding that "passenger and flight activities may not return to pre COVID-19 levels for at least three to five years according to certain industry participants."

With the U.S.'s case count skyrocketing and the Canada-U.S. border closure about to be extended once again, many popular destinations for quick weekend getaways from Toronto are certainly not so popular anymore.

And, with various health and safety measures and some forms of lockdown restrictions due to persist for the foreseeable future, it remains completely unknown when people will be permitted to — or will want to — travel once again.

Lead photo by

@h_w


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