Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon and contribute to your important study.
We at WestJet have heard from many communities and businesses that rely on our investments to connect them and their economies to the world. Our approach to this crisis overall has been multi-faceted but rooted in our commitment to serve Canadians and conduct ourselves in a transparent manner with all levels of government.
Before we get into details, it is important to thank our employees who have suffered so much but continue to serve Canadians and persevere. Everyone in our company is fighting for you.
COVID had had a devastating impact on WestJet and our employees, with bookings dropping as much as 95%. A staggering 97% of guests who had booked pre-COVID to fly between July and November ended up cancelling. At our current booking levels, we would need six and a half years to achieve our 2019 bookings, but this story is not just about bookings and revenue.
We now only have 5,600 active WestJetters remaining from our pre-pandemic workforce of over 14,000. One thousand of these employees are on leave and another 4,000 have, sadly, exited permanently a company and a career they loved. WestJetters have been living in uncertainty, enduring a roller coaster of layoff, recall, layoff, with the fluidity and unpredictability of the travel restrictions we have seen.
WestJet has had to make tough decisions. By slashing our costs by 60%, we have been able to implement our progressive refund policies and maintain regional air services to the greatest extent possible.
Safety remains our top priority. We have implemented stringent health and hygiene policies that ensure the safety of our staff and our guests. We work very collaboratively with our public health partners. Since the pandemic began, we've operated more than 30,000 flights and carried more than 1.3 million guests. As former Minister of Transport Marc Garneau noted, there have been no known transmissions of COVID on board an aircraft. In September, we implemented a zero-tolerance mask policy. This is just a broad highlight of some of the measures.
WestJet thanks the Prime Minister for recognizing the measures we have taken to keep Canadians safe, and on Friday, for calling us a strong partner in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
Contact tracing is also an important step of stemming COVID-19. This is why WestJet has taken extra steps throughout the pandemic in advising our public, our guests and our employees who have been affected by COVID-19. It is our understanding that we are the only airline group to post affected flights on our external channels and email any impacted guests.
We're a proud partner with Vancouver International Airport, which you have heard from, and the University of British Columbia and Providence Health Care on a research pilot that is testing the use of rapid testing for departure in an airport environment. We are also grateful to the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta for the arrivals-testing pilot project that safely reduces quarantine times for arrivals. We believe that study and pilot project is an essential piece of work that should remain intact.
On refunds, a subject of great discussion at this committee, we remain the only Canadian airline that proactively refunds guests whose flights were cancelled by us due to the pandemic, whether the fares purchased were refundable or non-refundable. We announced this important step in October and have been recognized by consumer groups and others for this progressive and proactive step. Our decision aligns us with the consumer-friendly policies in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.