The CEO of WestJet Airlines Ltd. is laying the blame squarely on “incoherent” policy from Ottawa as his carrier cuts staff and flights in response to new COVID-19 testing requirements for passengers returning to Canada.

The Calgary-based airline announced Friday about 1,000 employees will be furloughed, temporarily laid off, put on unpaid leave or have their hours cut, and it will chop about 30 percent of its capacity for February and March and pull 160 domestic departures from its schedule.

Trip cancellations and reductions in new bookings began immediately after the federal government warned of the inbound testing rules and continued requirement for a 14-day quarantine on Dec. 31, WestJet CEO Ed Sims said in a statement.

“The entire travel industry and its customers are again on the receiving end of incoherent and inconsistent government policy,”’ he said.

“We have advocated over the past 10 months for a co-ordinated testing regime on Canadian soil, but this hasty new measure is causing Canadian travellers unnecessary stress and confusion and may make travel unaffordable, unfeasible and inaccessible for Canadians for years to come.”

The new flight cuts mean WestJet will have reduced flights by more than 80 percent compared with the same time last year, it said.

International capacity will be down 93 percent year over year and only five daily flights will be offered compared with 100 last year. Overall, the airline will offer 150 daily departures, returning to levels not seen since 2001, it said.

WestJet said it currently has 5,700 active and 5,200 inactive employees, down from over 14,000 before the pandemic erupted.

The cutbacks at WestJet are the result of a “continued attack” on airlines without compensation, said Chris Rauenbusch, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local that represents cabin crew members at WestJet.

Demand – already low amid federal guidance against all non-essential travel – has “evaporated” since the policy was announced on Dec. 31, Rauenbusch said.

“We completely understand the need for public health measures during a pandemic like this,” he said. “The fundamental problem we have is the employer wasn’t consulted until after the public announcement.”

WestJet, which was bought by Onex Corp. in 2019, joined Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwing Airlines said, along with the National Airlines Council of Canada and the International Air Transportation Association, in unsuccessfully asking Ottawa for an 11-day extension to implement the new rules.