Travellers check the status of flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday. A major weekend storm disrupted air travel across Canada and the U.S.Julia Nikhinson/The Associated Press
A weekend snowstorm continued to disrupt air travel on Monday, as airports in Canada and the United States posted long lists of cancellations and delays.
More than 80 morning flights were cancelled by 9 a.m. at Toronto Pearson International Airport and most other departures were delayed, some by several hours, according to the airport’s website. The cancellations include domestic, vacation and U.S. destinations.
“Passengers are advised to check their flight status with their airline before coming to the airport as the winter weather is impacting flight operations, and schedules may change throughout the day,” Pearson said on its website.
School closures, travel delays as Toronto area clears mountains of snow
With the storm over, airlines are left struggling with aircraft and crews at the wrong locations, slowing their ability to resume service, said John Gradek, who teaches aviation leadership at Montreal’s McGill University.
“They have a mess,” Mr. Gradek said.
Airlines’ operations should return to normal by Wednesday, he said.
Peter Fitzpatrick, an Air Canada spokesperson, said just over 300 flights were cancelled on Monday because of Sunday’s weather. The airline typically makes about 1,000 trips daily, he said.
Flair Airlines spokesperson Kim Bowie said the carrier cancelled eight flights at Pearson on Monday, and seven were delayed by more than an hour. “These disruptions are due to Pearson’s capacity limitations,” Ms. Bowie said.
About 30 Monday departures from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport are cancelled as much of Canada and the U.S. digs out from a storm that brought heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures on Sunday. In all, 18 per cent of the 224 Montreal flights are cancelled, according to Cirium, an aviation data company.
Almost 65 per cent of the 48 Monday flights at Halifax Stanfield International Airport are cancelled, Cirium said.
More than 30 per cent of Pearson’s flights are cancelled on Monday, Cirium said, a day after Canada’s busiest airport saw two-thirds of its 474 flights scrubbed. Amid the season’s biggest storm, the airport used a fleet of plows, tarmac snow melters and aircraft de-icers, spacing out landings and departures to enable snow clearing.
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