If you’re flying in or out of Toronto today, good luck.
With heavy snow falling in southern Ontario, Flight Aware at 3 p.m. (Thursday, Jan. 15) was reporting more than 250 cancelled flights at Toronto Pearson Airport/YYZ, as well as more than 300 delays. That rate of cancellation is roughly one quarter of all flights in and out of YYZ.
It was reporting 42 cancellations at Montreal Trudeau Airport at 3 p.m., 21 for Ottawa International and 18 at Toronto City Centre/Billy Bishop airport on the waterfront (YTZ).
Even if you count only 100 passengers on a flight, 250 cancelled flights would mean 25,000 passengers scrambling for alternatives.
The website, which tracks flights worldwide, said Air Canada Jazz had cancelled 103 flights around the country, with 92 reported delays. Air Canada’s main line was at 65 cancellations and 172 delays, while Air Canada Rouge was showing 251cancelled flights and 37 delays.
WestJet, which doesn’t have as strong a presence in Toronto as Air Canada, was showing 36 cancellations and 81 delays as of 3 p.m., while Porter Airlines was at 41 cancellations and 107 delays.
A snowy airport. Sergey Svechnikov/Unsplash Photo
Writing on its Twitter/X feed shortly before 4 p.m. local time Toronto Pearson officials said things are a little better than they were in the morning.
“Conditions are improving after more than 20cm of snow (nearly eight inches) fell at Toronto Pearson,” airport officials said. “Our crews continue to make loops of the airfield to remove snow from runways, taxiways, and aprons so aircraft can safely arrive and depart. Passengers are advised to check their flight status before coming to the airport, as some arriving and departing flights continue to be impacted.”
“Airline operations are impacted by a significant winter storm hitting parts of Ontario and Québec,” Air Canada said on Twitter/X/ “Please check your flight’s status before going to the airport via the Air Canada app or at aircanada.com.”
Canada’s largest airline said it has a flexible booking policy in place.
“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 company said on its website.
Many schools in Toronto are closed, and parts of the Don Valley Parkway have been closed due to the snow.
If the storm moves east it could wreak havoc on travel in Ottawa and Montreal later today or tomorrow.
