4 March 2023

Winter Weather Wallops Eastern U.S. and Ontario: Massive Flight Cancellations in Toronto

March is roaring in like a lion, and Canadian and American travellers are paying the price.

A so-called “mega-storm” lashed the Greater Toronto Area with high winds and heavy, wet snow that reached depths of 35 centimeters. Roughly one-third of flights had been cancelled at Toronto Pearson as of 2 p.m. EST today (Saturday, March 4), nearly 1,000 flights in all. Airports in Detroit and Boston were hit with numerous cancelled flights over night , and authorities were warning of problems at airports in Ottawa and Montreal.

As of 10 a.m. Saturday, Toronto Pearson’s media site was showing 459 outgoing flight cancellations, or 33.8% of all flights. For incoming flights, the site showed 484 cancellations, or 37.8%. The snow, however, has stopped for now, and Pearson officials (see below) say things are getting better.

WestJet proactively cancelled all scheduled flights operating to and from Pearson as of 8:00 p.m. EST Friday, until Saturday morning.

“Operations to and from Toronto have resumed on the morning of Saturday, March 4, 2023, at a reduced capacity and remain contingent on weather conditions improving as forecasted. We continue to monitor storm conditions and will make operational changes as required,” officials said in an email.

“Guests travelling to or from Toronto are advised to check the status of their flights prior to leaving for the airport. WestJet’s current travel advisories are posted online here: https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/travel-info/advisories.”

WestJet’s advisory page today warns of winter conditions in Ontario, Eastern Canada and the New York region and said the weather could cause delays or cancellations. Officials said flexible change/cancel guidelines are in effect.

Air Canada’s advisory page was advising passengers that fights may be impacted by forecasted winter operational conditions in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

“Air Canada has revised its ticketing policy to make it easier for customers travelling on an affected flight to make changes to their booking without penalty, space permitting.”

The Porter Airlines site said “flights may be disrupted by snowstorm/freezing rain” at both Ottawa and Montreal-Trudeau airports. There was no advisory showing for Toronto City Centre or Toronto Pearson Airports.

“Impacts from the winter storm may continue to be felt today. Delays and cancellations are possible so please check your flight status with your airline,” Toronto Pearson said on its website.

“Conditions at Toronto Pearson are improving, but the airport and the city received a large amount of snow in a short period of time. The snow is also very heavy and high winds made snow clearing difficult throughout the night, but the pace of plane movements is picking up,” Pearson officials said in an email I received this morning.

“The proactive steps taken by airlines to cancel or delay flights was helpful and we’re working to support them as they get back on schedule. Passengers should be aware that further delays and cancellations are possible as we all work through the impacts of this major winter storm.

“We are also seeing staffing impacts for airport agencies, airlines and other partners as road conditions affect workers’ ability to reach Toronto Pearson,” airport officials said. “Passengers may experience delays and longer than usual lines, but we expect the situation to continually improve throughout the day.

If you’re looking for info on cancellations at Pearson, you can check here: https://www.torontopearson.com/en/corporate/media

For Montreal-Trudeau, the website flightaware.com was showing 42 cancelled outbound flights (16%) and 38 cancelled inbound flights (15%).

For today, Flight Aware was showing 162 cancelled flights for Air Canada Jazz (37%) and 84 cancelled flights (16%) for main line Air Canada. The site said WestJet had cancelled 46 flights (13%) as of 2 p.m.. Eastern Time, while Swoop had six cancellations (13%) and Porter Airlines only seven cancellations (4%)..

Flight Aware also was showing major cancellation problems at Boston Logan (23% of outgoing flights), Detroit-Wayne (13% of outgoing flights cancelled as of 2 p.m.), Ottawa (11 outgoing cancellations, 13%) and Buffalo-Niagara (six cancellations, 8%). Six flights also had been cancelled (outgoing) at Halifax, which is 10%.

Air travel wasn’t the only type of transportation affected by the storm. Police were warning drivers to avoid anything but necessary travel, as major snowfall was clogging main roads and some highways. Power lines also were down, and some areas were experiencing power outages.

Tagged as: airport delays, cancelled flights, Detroit, Montreal Trudeau Airport, Nashville, Porter Airlines, snow, Swoop Airlines, toronto. Pearson Airport, weather problems, winter storm

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