The suspension of flights begins on Sunday, March the 22nd at 10:59 p.m. PST.

The company says the move follows Ottawa's announcement of new travelling restrictions due to COVID-19

WestJet has announced its shutting down all of its international and trans-border flights for at least 30-days

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – One of Canada’s main air carriers is scaling back service significantly due to the coronavirus.

WestJet has announced Monday evening that it’s shutting down all of its international and trans-border flights for a month, while also cutting its domestic flights in half.

The suspension of flights begins on Sunday, March the 22nd at 10:59 p.m. PST.

Today, PM @JustinTrudeau made a declaration to Canadians abroad that it is time to come home. Based on this, we will be suspending our commercial operations for all international and transborder flights on Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. MDT. Read more – https://t.co/dJtNHeij8V pic.twitter.com/iCUpI0hDCP — WestJet (@WestJet) March 17, 2020

As of Monday night, international and transborder tickets are not being sold by the airline, and efforts will now focus on bringing Canadians home.

To help Canadians who are trying to come back to the country, WestJet is lowering prices on the remaining seats in all cabins flying into Canada.

The domestic flight schedule is also being cut by 50 per cent.

While this is a difficult time, we now have the responsibility as a Canadian airline to bring our citizens home. For more details, and to understand how this impacts you, please visit https://t.co/6DSkCWV8nE — WestJet (@WestJet) March 17, 2020

The company says via email it’s been forced to make the move on the heels of Ottawa’s new restrictions on cross-border travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WestJet does say that it will be working with Ottawa to help with repatriation flights for Canadians currently stuck overseas.

A spokesperson for WestJet telling NEWS 1130 that more information will be announced on Tuesday about what impact its move will have on the travelling public, as well as the 14-thousand people the airline employs.