Air Canada recalls hundreds of workers as traffic rebounds Last Updated Fri, 08 Mar 2002 18:57:42 MONTREAL - Air Canada (TSE:AC) is rehiring hundreds of laid off flight=20 attendants and ground workers as the airline responds to a=20 stronger-than-expected rebound in passenger traffic. Air Canada said it=20 would recall 150 flight attendants beginning in April and expected to=20 recall all of its furloughed flight attendants by the third quarter, when=20 demand traditionally peaks. The airline also said it would give former=20 Canada 3000 flight attendants "priority interview status" for any temporary= =20 summer peak positions. Air Canada said it has already recalled more than=20 100 ground workers and is hiring extra mechanics. The recall announcements= =20 followed reports Friday that Air Canada's passenger traffic rose 2.9 per=20 cent in February. Its load factor (the percentage of available seats with=20 paying passengers) surged to 76.8 per cent =96 the highest February figure= in=20 Air Canada's history. "Capacity management combined with positive traffic=20 trends produced these encouraging results," Air Canada chief financial=20 officer Rob Peterson said. "We are pleased to continue mitigating job=20 losses by recalling staff in response to a stronger than anticipated=20 recovery in traffic levels." In 2001, Air Canada chopped a total of 9,000= =20 jobs as it reported a loss of more than $1 billion. More than half the cuts= =20 (5,000 jobs) came after the downturn following the Sept. 11 attacks. On=20 Thursday, rival WestJet airlines reported that its February revenue=20 passenger miles were 58 per cent higher than last February's traffic. Written by CBC News Online staff The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca yahoo email: mailto:triniroj@yahoo.com Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBSC Group on Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribsocabrass CBSC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ ******************************************************* Steel Expressions Orch http://www.escape.ca/~ejames/se/ email #1: mailto:steelexpressions@yahoo.com email #2: mailto:steelexpressions@home.com ******************************************************* The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TCL) http://www.tclgroup.com/ (TCL Group of Companies) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://195.224.187.36/ *********************************************************