The worst appears to be over for southern Ontario, but frigid temperatures and strong winds are still limiting travel for many.
Roads are treacherous, and VIA Rail also is having trouble with trains in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. CP24 reports passengers on a train heading from Ottawa to Toronto have been stuck on board a stalled train car for 17 hours.
Airports appear to be recovering in Ontario and Quebec as the snow dissipates.
“The last several days have been very challenging for the airlines and they’ve been proactively cancelling and delaying flights,” said Tori Gass, a spokesperson for Toronto Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport. We have all hands on deck to make sure Pearson is operating as best as possible and since the weather was not as bad as predicted, we’re expecting a good day for operations.
“Saying that, the extreme cold and winds could have some impact as we prioritize safety. In these types of conditions, the grounds crews may need to take breaks to warm up and that can lead to some delays,” Gass said.
There are a relatively small number of carry over cancellations today due to aircraft being out of position from yesterday’s storm,” said Brad Cicero, Director, Communications & Public Affairs for Porter Airlines. “Otherwise, it’s expected that we’ll operate a normal schedule.
“As usual, passengers should check their flight status in advance.”
“We are seeing major increases in aircraft movement over recent days and as a result, passengers are getting safely on their way for the holidays,” Vancouver YVR officials said on their website this morning. “We are expecting to operate 93% of originally scheduled flights today with more than 65,000+ passengers travelling through the airport.”
WestJet last night issued a statement saying it has 24 cancelled flights on tap for today, following 333 cancellations on Thursday.
WestJet this morning issued a statement saying it has cancelled 60 flights for Christmas Eve (out of 500 scheduled departures), and that operations resumed at Toronto Pearson at 7 a.m. today amid very cold temperatures with windchill. Vancouver YVR operations resumed Friday night, the airline said.
WestJet said it has only one cancelled flight on Christmas Day out of 444 scheduled.
FlightAware.com today reports 40 WestJet cancellations so far today (roughly 12% of outgoing flights as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time), and 33 WestJet Encore cancellations (18%). Swoop, a West Jet subsidiary, had four cancellations showing (10%). For Air Canada, it was showing 41 cancellations (8%), while Air Canada Jazz was at 91 (22%) and Air Canada Rouge at 8 (6%). Porter Airlines had cancelled nine flights by that time (4%), FlightAware data showed.
The website showed 9 cancellations so far today at Toronto Pearson (10%), but Ottawa was at 18 cancellations (20%). Montreal was showing 14 cancellations (6%), while Vancouver showed 9 cancellations (3%).
For Friday, 199 flights (37%) were cancelled at Toronto Pearson, leaving hundreds with their holiday plans in doubt. Vancouver International on Friday had 156 cancellations (44%), while Montreal had 78 (27%). Calgary had 63 cancellations yesterday (21%), while the Toronto Island/City Centre Airport had 56 cancelled flights, a sizable 60%.
FlightAware said Air Canada had 111 cancellations on Friday (22%), compared to 282 for Air Canada Jazz (56%) and 27 for Air Canada Rouge (21%). The website said WestJet had 199 flights cancelled on Friday (56%), while WestJet Encore cancelled 130 flights (55%). Swoop had 49 cancelled flights, a whopping 83%, while Porter Airlines had 81 cancellations (48%).
Sunwing says it has had to cancel many southbound flights from Western Canada through until Christmas.
Things are much worse in Buffalo, where FlightAware reports 44 cancellations (88% of flights) as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Christmas Eve.
Airlines say they’re doing their best to cope with what some weather experts call “unprecedented” storms.
“Complimentary moves are available for any passenger scheduled to travel today or Saturday,” Air Canada stated. “Passengers may move their flight through until December 26. We encourage passengers to check their flight status before coming to the airport. Passengers can make changes to their booking on the website under ‘My Bookings’. Due to the high volume of calls, we are asking that only passengers flying within 72 hours and who require assistance contact the call centre at this time.
WestJet issued the following statement around 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Dec. 22:
Due to a second significant winter storm system, scheduled to impact Vancouver and the Southern B.C. region beginning on the evening of Thursday, December 22, WestJet has proactively cancelled all flights arriving and departing Vancouver International Airport (YVR) beginning at 11:50 p.m. PST, until the late afternoon of Friday, December 23, dependent on weather conditions. In addition, flights have been proactively cancelled at Abbotsford International Airport (YXX), Victoria International Airport (YYJ), Nanaimo Airport (YCD) and Comox Airport (YQQ).
The proactive cancellations will impact 126 flights across the five airports and were made in consultation with airport authorities and NAV Canada. All impacted guests have been notified. Read more on our Newsroom.
Southern Ontario/Quebec Winter Storm – Proactive Cancels (Dec 23)
Due to a significant winter storm system scheduled to impact Southern Ontario and Quebec regions, WestJet has proactively cancelled all flights arriving and departing Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST on Friday, December 23 until end of day, with a restart dependent on weather conditions by Saturday, December 24. The service suspension will also impact additional airports in Southern Ontario and Quebec including, Ottawa International Airport (YOW), London International Airport (YXU), the Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF) and Montreal-Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport (YUL).
“We pre-cancelled a number of flights for today at Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal due to the weather, reduced airport capacity and other operational constraints,” Air Canada told me in an email Friday morning. “Given the changing circumstances, customers should be sure to check their flights are operating before going to the airport.
“For those who do not wish to travel, we have put in place an extensive goodwill policies, details under Travel News and Updates on www.aircanada.com. These allow customers to cancel their flights online and receive a full refund or voucher on tickets purchased on or before Dec. 21 for any flight between Dec. 22-26 and until Dec 28 for Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.”
“Based on weather forecasts, many Ontario-based flights will likely be cancelled starting this afternoon,” Porter officials told me in an email around 10:30 a.m. ET. “We are planning to ensure we are in a strong position to operate tomorrow and get as many passengers to their destinations as possible.
“Complimentary moves are available for any passenger scheduled to travel today or Saturday. Passengers may move their flight through until December 26.
“We encourage passengers to check their flight status before coming to the airport. Passengers can make changes to their booking on the website under ‘My Bookings’. Due to the high volume of calls, we are asking that only passengers flying within 72 hours and who require assistance contact the call centre at this time.”
WestJet Chief Operations Officer Diederick Pen issued the following statement late Thursday night:
“To our guests, we know how important your travel plans are at this time of year and every single WestJetter feels the weight of not being able to get you where you want to be. We sincerely apologize for the continued disruption many have or will experience and appreciate your continued patience and understanding. Our teams on the ground, in the air and behind the scenes are working tirelessly to recover our operations, while trying to limit further disruption to important holiday travel plans.
The prolonged and extreme weather events that continue to impact multiple regions across Canada are unlike anything we’ve experienced. With the additional storms forecasted to impact British Columbia, Southern Ontario and Quebec, we are taking a proactive and measured approach to protect our operations and prioritize recovery flying this weekend. The decision to stand down more flights is extremely difficult, but it is necessary, so that we can be best prepared to safely fly as many guests, with as little disruption as possible when the weather improves.”
Here’s a statement from Sunwing’s website.
“As a result of severe winter weather in Vancouver which has stranded several planes and crew, we have had to cancel some southbound flights from the Western Canada airports of Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg, effective immediately. The cancellations apply to select southbound departures up to and including December 25, 2022. We are in the process of advising affected customers or their travel agents.
“Please note that customers with cancelled flights will receive a full refund to their original form of payment. No action is required from customers. Please be advised that refunds will be processed within 30 days.
“For those customers who would prefer to change their travel to a different date, they can do so before December 27, 2022 by contacting their travel agent or the Sunwing Sales Centre at 1-877-786-9464. Current system rates will apply. If no changes are reflected on customers’ bookings by December 27, 2022, the booking will be automatically cancelled and a refund issued, with no action required from customers.”
