Air Canada plans to temporarily lay off more than 5,000 flight attendants, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, AFP quoted their union as saying on Friday.

The layoffs would affect 3,600 flight attendants at the flagship Canadian airline and all 1,549 flight attendants at its budget Air Canada Rouge affiliate, the union that represents the flight attendants said.

That accounts for more than half the membership of the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents roughly 10,000 flight attendants.

“This has been the most challenging time any of us will likely ever experience as flight attendants,” union president Wesley Lesosky said in a statement.