Bad weather and mechanical delays have led to long waits for customers of one small regional airline.
Perimeter Aviation says on its website it provides daily scheduled passenger flights to more than 20 communities in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.
When bad weather hit this week, forcing the cancellation of some flights, the company decided to take the opportunity to voluntarily conduct a thorough inspection of its fleet.
However, president and CEO Nick Vodden says in a news release that unfortunately, the inspections took longer than initially anticipated.
He says all company personnel are working diligently to make resources "available as quickly as possible."
The company says it is trying to make arrangements with partner airlines to help.
"We appreciate everybody's patience during these matters, we are doing everything in our powers and exhausting all resources to expediently minimize the impact to our customers," says Vodden.
Thunder Rae came to the airport with his big sister on Tuesday hoping to fly back to his home in Sandy Lake, around 250 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, but the flight was cancelled due to bad weather.
When they came back the next day, they said they ended up waiting at the airport for eight hours. They were told not to leave the terminal in case another plane could be arranged, but were never able to get on a flight.
They were back at the airport on Friday, but again, there was no flight home.
"I'm getting sick of it," the youngster told CTV Winnipeg, adding he uses Perimeter regularly to fly to Winnipeg for medical appointments.
"He wanted to cry a couple times because he misses my grandma back home," said Rae's sister, Angel Kakekagumick. "We were starting to shake just from how sore we are. I have back problems, too, and I can't sit around for that long."
(CTV Winnipeg)
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