Thank you very much, and thanks to the committee for inviting me here today.
I've been a pilot and, in the later half of my career, have worked in senior and executive roles in the airline industry. I've seen 9/11 and SARS, which were terrible. The current challenge far exceeds anything we've ever seen before.
Our association today represents 3,800 active pilots. Before COVID hit, we had 4,500 active pilots and we were in the process of hiring another 900. Through a combination of cancelled hiring, furloughs, early retirements, leaves of absence and surplus pilots over 1,800 positions are gone, for a net reduction of 35%. Our remaining pilots are currently at about 65% of their normal salary as part of a mitigation agreement to limit reductions.
Since March 2020, passenger traffic has been down to around 10% of pre-pandemic levels. That has dropped even further in the past couple of weeks.
We would urge the government to take a thoughtful approach to any further restrictions, so they don't have any unintended consequences. While our pilots can tell you that most of the flights they operate have very few passengers, the cargo holds are full. Last week, on an extremely limited flight schedule, our pilots operated flights that carried millions of kilos of essential goods into and across Canada. If you turn off the tap on aviation, you don't want to unintentionally turn off the supply chain of vital goods to Canadians, including mail, personal protective equipment, pharmaceuticals and other goods.
While public health measures may be required to fight the pandemic, further restrictions without direct government financial aid are sure to take an already precarious airline industry and further devastate it. As a reminder, Air Canada is estimated to be burning through $15 million every single day this quarter. That's after the dramatic capacity reductions and layoffs of more than 20,000 employees. The airline is smaller today than it was when I started my career as a pilot in the 1970s.
Other countries are now in their second and third round of direct financial support for their airlines. We're the only G7 country that has not received specific industry aid. While we appreciate the Canada emergency wage subsidy, so many jobs have been lost and some of those losses may never be recovered. If we don't receive assistance soon, Canada may not have an airline industry by the time the recovery comes. The routes that have been cancelled may never return, airlines may not be able to recover costs, and the cargo that needs to get to where it needs to go may not go. Our industry touches in some way virtually every Canadian and every sector of this economy.
While the COVID crisis has hit many industries, airlines are unique in two ways.
First, unlike businesses with traditional offices or warehouses, airlines' most significant investment is in aircraft. Airline fleets are either owned, financed or leased. Airlines have slashed operations to manage these massive costs. Hundreds of planes are parked in the desert—many permanently. Some of the new aircraft are being sold outright or sold and leased back so airlines can generate liquidity to provide cash as they burn through their reserves.
Some might think that if airlines sell assets to create cash, they don't need any help. Selling aircraft one by one is like ripping apart your house, board by board, to keep the fire burning to heat it. Eventually the assets are gone and you have nothing left but a pile of ash and nowhere to live. Airlines cannot just give up their entire fleet and wait for the economy to improve. Government relief for aircraft rent or financing would assist airlines with an expense that is unique to them.
Second, our highly trained workers have skills that are critical, not just to the airline industry, but to the functioning of our economy. Pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers have essential skills developed through significant investments of money and time. Before their first commercial pilot job, they will have invested years and well over $100,000 to become qualified. Furloughed and inactive pilots have no way to maintain their skills. We can't just bring them back safely if those skills atrophy.
As this committee heard in 2019, a wave of retirements is anticipated over the next five to 10 years. In today's context, young people will not commit to a career that requires upwards of $100,000 and years of training to get qualified, with few or no job prospects. A skilled worker retention program to support inactive pilots would help ensure that we keep these highly skilled workers when we need them for recovery.
In conclusion, Canada's airlines represent a critical infrastructure, like our electrical grid or our highway network. We're a large country, a widely dispersed population and a trading nation. We rely on airlines to carry goods, services and people within and outside of Canada. Canada cannot survive and thrive in the years ahead without a robust aviation sector.
I'll wrap up my remarks here. I look forward to answering any questions the honourable members may have.
Thank you.