![]() ![]() Moving forward, Sims plans to continue his career in aviation with a senior advisory role with Onex. “As the market recovers, we have been really pleased with improved yields and the occupancy of our forward cabins.” “We are finding that people will now trade up their leisure pursuits,” said Sims. How has the health crisis impacted the way we travel now? As people travel less, they tend to spend more on the flights they take. While the situation remained bleak for the aviation industry in the first quarter of 2021, WestJet’s recovery - said to be between 60 to 70% - is occurring faster than expected, said Sims. “If you keep people up to date with communication, and you give them clarity around dates or catalysts that you think are going to be significant, then you're giving people hope, and that's the most important asset in a crisis like this,” he adds.ĭuring the height of the pandemic, WestJet lost nearly 90% of its demand paired with 70% of its employees, wiping about “four years of profitability,” told Sims. “It could easily feel completely overwhelming, and that sense of victimhood can become predominant, but if you just give people a degree of control over how they want to manage the way that they stand down to let the airline stand up, then they feel that they are playing an active part rather than being a passive victim.” “It was my ambition and vision to at least give people a degree of control,” he said. ![]() Faced with a critical drop in demand, he decided to give the options to his employees between working from home or reduced hours, being furloughed or early-retirement. ![]() Sims, who had previously been through the fall of airlines in 19, said to have rediscovered the critical role of humanity in leadership. “I had to say to everybody, we're going to have to cut an enormous amount of cost out of this business because all the demand has just drained,” he added. My first thought was there must be a major system failure.” “Cancellations were outstripping bookings. “It was the first time I've seen a screen go completely red,” he said. The CEO vividly remembers February, 24 of 2020 as the first time he witnessed the effects of the virus at work. It should be noted that emissions were drastically lowered when the aviation industry got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and travel restrictions were implemented across the globe. Sims explains that one way of reducing emissions consists of aircraft favouring continuous, “glide” descent arrivals over the step descents, which he says could “save thousands of tons of fuel every single year.” ![]()
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