WestJet says it is suspending all commercial international and transborder flights for a month to help control the spread of COVID-19, effective March 23. The Calgary-based airline says it will be operating rescue and repatriation flights in partnership with the Canadian government.

WestJet President and CEO Ed Sims released a statement Tuesday advising of the following:

On Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. MDT WestJet will suspend scheduled commercial operations for all international and transborder flights for a 30-day period. After that, the airline will be operating rescue and repatriation flights with their partners.

As of Tuesday night, international and transborder tickets would no longer be available for sale during this 30-day period.

On Wednesday, March 18 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, WestJet will suspend all outbound international ticket sales for travel until Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, so will no longer be sending Canadians out of the country and can instead focus on bringing them home.

To assist Canadians in returning home on short notice, WestJet in the process of lowering prices on our remaining seats into Canada in all cabins.

In addition, we will also reduce our domestic schedule by approximately 50 percent. At this point, all network changes are in place for the next 30 days.

Just last Friday, the union representing WestJet flight attendants announced that it was expecting layoffs of more than 50 percent of its staff as the number of flight cancellations continued to grow.