Thank you.
My initial comments will be to the committee. So far, you've listened today to the heads of the largest public and private sector unions in this country. As you can tell, we're frustrated, we're disappointed and, frankly, we're completely pissed off over the lack of action from the government on this important file.
Thank you for inviting me to speak today on the impact of COVID-19 on the air transportation industry.
You've already heard the headline statistics. Air traffic plummeted in the second quarter of last year and remains unsustainably low. Even in October, eight months after the pandemic began, air transportation-related GDP was only 10% of the pre-pandemic levels. Passenger traffic was only 15%, and domestic and international flights remain at all-time lows.
Those are just a few of the most recent statistics. With the new travel restrictions being discussed, we know that these numbers are going to get worse. Each of those numbers represents real hardship for tens of thousands of workers across the country.
Unifor represents more than 15,000 workers in the air transportation industry. Our members are pilots, customer sales and service agents, air traffic controllers and flight service specialists. They work as aircraft mechanics and flight schedulers, flight attendants and baggage handlers. They keep our airports running smoothly. They've all been taking a beating like no other during this pandemic.
Let me tell you what our members and locals have experienced as a result of this crisis. Forty-five per cent of our members in airlines are laid off, furloughed or have had their employment relationship completely severed. At Air Canada alone, 60% of our members are laid off. At Porter and Sunwing, all of our members are laid off or furloughed. At ELS, our members have been permanently let go as their work is now being done by another entity altogether.
Many workers have already lost their health insurance, and more are given notice each day. They are being forced to take pay cuts in order to avoid layoffs, all while wondering if they'll have a job to go back to.
We've been here before, and we do not need to go through it again. It's not only workers who are feeling the effects. Communities are struggling too. Air Canada has closed 17 stations and suspended dozens of routes. There is no guarantee that these stations will open again.
Our members at Nav Canada are warning that flight services at rural airports have been cut, and two flight information centres will be closed. Pilots are losing flight time, and trainees in every job category have been let go. Training to recertify can take up to two years and is incredibly expensive. All of this has direct impacts on the cost of training and recertifying, as well as safety when commercial travel restarts in earnest.
I could go on, but I want to get to the solutions.
Unifor began warning of the grave effects on the industry way back in March. We have not let up. We have met with and written to the government nearly a dozen times on this topic, but the government refuses to act.
We are calling on the government to create a national recovery plan for the aviation industry. Without a plan, Canada's workers and employers are being left in the dark. The plan must include vital government support to carry Canada's airlines, airports and navigation services through this crisis and ensure they are ready and able to fly again as soon as restrictions are lifted.
People are going to want to fly again, and right now there is no plan in place that ensures capacity will exist to serve the pent-up demand. Globally, governments have provided airlines with nearly $150 billion in relief. Canada has provided less than $2 billion, of which $1.1 billion was in wage subsidies. In the G7, only Italy has provided less.
We can and we have to do better. The plan must ensure services are preserved and remote locations do not lose service or their vital connections to medicine, business and family and friends.
The plan must include adapting border restrictions to safely reopen borders when it is safe to do so, in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization's universal standard to implement rapid testing and dynamic quarantine. All of this is outlined in our recovery plan submitted to the government in October. Copies have been provided to you.
Finally, we need to make sure that any plan focuses on a network for recovery that builds a better industry for all participants. The stimulus after the 2008-09 crisis was critical to recovery, but it delivered recovery for the corporate sector, while workers and families continued to experience long bouts of unemployment, stagnant wages and precarious work. Every worker deserves better.
I look forward to answering your questions, and thank you.