The WestJet CEO is calling on the Canadian government to remove its vaccination mandate for travelers, saying the policy “makes no more sense”.
“The vaccination warrant for air travelers and employees must be dropped,” Alexis von Hoensbroech tweeted from an unverified account on Tuesday evening.
“Because vaccines do not prevent the spread of the virus from #omicron, there is no logic to maintaining it. This will also ease some of the operational challenges at airports.”
Von Hoensbroech, who took over as CEO of WestJet in February, spoke just hours after Health Canada announced that existing border measures would remain in place until at least June 30.
Existing travel regulations require a full vaccination test to travel in or out of Canada. Travelers entering Canada who are not fully vaccinated must provide valid COVID test results prior to entry; they also face test and quarantine requirements on arrival.
Complex travel rules and rising demand have been cited as delays that have exceeded several hours at many Canadian airports in recent weeks.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has suggested that rusty passengers are also to blame.
“Taking out the laptops, taking out the liquids, all that adds up to 10 seconds here, 15 seconds there,” he told reporters earlier this month.
With an archive of The Canadian Press