Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I am Raymond Bohn, president and chief executive officer of Nav Canada. I am joined today by Jonathan Bagg, director of stakeholder and industry relations. I would like to start by thanking the chair, vice-chairs and members of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities for the opportunity to appear this afternoon.
As the country's private not-for-profit provider of air navigation services, Nav Canada is responsible for the safe and efficient movement of aircraft in all Canadian-controlled airspace. Nav Canada's mandate is achieved primarily through the delivery of air traffic control and flight information services; the maintenance, update and publishing of aeronautical information products; the reliable provision of communications, navigation and surveillance infrastructure; and the 24-7 availability of advanced air traffic management systems, many of which we develop right here in Canada and export around the world.
We are responsible for more than 18 million square kilometres of airspace from coast to coast to coast, reaching halfway across the North Atlantic, what is usually the busiest oceanic airspace in the world. Thanks to the work of our more than 4,400 dedicated employees, operating out of more than 100 operational facilities throughout the country, Canada boasts one of the best air traffic management safety records in the world.
It should come as no surprise to members of this committee that Nav Canada has not been immune to the severe impacts that COVID-19 has had on our industry. As traffic levels have declined domestically and globally, so too have our revenues, which are based on service charges paid by our customers—the airlines and aircraft operators who utilize our services.
For the first quarter of our current fiscal year, which ran from September to November 2020, weighted charging units, which are a measure that reflects the number of flights, aircraft size and distance flown in Canadian airspace, decreased by 58.8% compared to the previous year. Our net loss for last fiscal year totalled $348 million. We anticipate a loss of $295 million for the current fiscal year, though I should note that this is based on forecasts made prior to the travel restrictions announced Friday.
Nav Canada took action early in the pandemic to significantly reduce operating costs and capital spending while continuing to ensure that essential air navigation services remained available to support our customers and their critical operations.
We had to make the difficult decision to increase service charges for our fiscal year 2021 after exhausting all available options. In doing so, we worked to minimize the impact of a rate change by using our debt capacity and our liquidity to support our customers by deferring payment of the increase, interest-free, over a five-year period.
Like many in the industry, Nav Canada had to make the very difficult decision to reduce the size of its workforce, eliminating more than 720 positions or 14% of our pre-COVID workforce through implementation of a voluntary retirement program, followed by involuntary reductions in staffing of temporary and permanent positions, impacting all areas of our business.
Nav Canada recently launched numerous aeronautical studies to safely streamline operations at airport locations where we provide air traffic services. While our studies are still under way, it is important to note that any change to our level of service will be made only after careful assessment of all safety factors, and following concurrence with our safety regulator, Transport Canada.
From the outset of the pandemic, all of our decisions have been made with a view to preserving the integrity of the air navigation system and ensuring aircraft safety operations now and well into the future.
A consistent theme we have heard from our stakeholders is the desire for co-operation with the federal government on solutions that will not only help the industry weather and recover from the current crisis, but also position the industry to build a pathway to future economic growth.
We believe that the federal government is well positioned to take account of this broad and complex situation and to deliver a balanced set of supports that can help enable the economic potential of the industry.