Canadian airlines deal with fallout from U.S. ground stop as flights cancelled and delays persist into Saturday

The Story

Air travel disruptions triggered by a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ground stop on Friday continued to affect travellers at Canadian airports on Saturday, as airlines worked through cancelled flights and aircraft-and-crew repositioning.

In its statement Saturday, Air Canada said it cancelled approximately 250 flights after the order, which affected some 27,000 passengers. Spokesperson Yasmine Mehdi said the disruption was “significant” and that its effects had “carried over into today,” with additional cancellations as aircraft and crews were out of position.

Other carriers also pointed to a longer recovery window. Porter Airlines and WestJet said it was likely the whole weekend would be needed for flights to return to normal schedules, with Porter indicating it would refund customers who could not accommodate rescheduled flights while WestJet said its policy allowing flexible rescheduling was activated.

The U.S. ground stop began after the FAA ordered a halt to air traffic for more than four hours. The U.S. government said new technology being added to the air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment, leading to intermittent communications and radar gaps, and that the matter was under investigation.

At Toronto Pearson International Airport, the airport said a “busy day of travel is underway” and said it had called in more staff to help. The ripple effects were also described at other Canadian airports, including Vancouver and Halifax, where delays were posted on social media.

For passengers, the disruption meant cancelled or postponed trips and added costs. Dale Flood, a Vancouver man travelling with his family for a 50th birthday trip to New York to watch the Buffalo Bills, said his Saturday morning flight was cancelled after a four-hour freeze on U.S. air traffic and that after searching for alternative flights until 4 a.m., his family would fly on Sunday, landing too late for the intended NFL game. “It’s sad,” Flood said, adding it was “hard to watch an 11-year-old cry.”

Flood also said he was unable to reach an agent by phone, telling reporters he wished he could “talk to Air Canada, like actually talk to a human being.” Another traveller, Edward Langer, said his Saturday flight back home to Edmonton was postponed by about four days and that the delay had meant missed school and work days as well as additional hotel costs. He said he was unable to reach Porter Airlines as of Saturday afternoon, and described hotel prices rising “doubling and tripling.”

In Montreal, Isabelle Rochefort said she was in line at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport to board an Air Canada flight to Cancun, Mexico, about 5 p.m. Friday when she learned her trip was cancelled. She said the situation was initially confusing, telling Facebook messages that the Air Canada staff “had no information on what was next except that we had to wait for news.” Rochefort said she was able to retrieve her bag and call someone to drive her home to Sorel-Tracy, more than an hour-and-a-half away, and that she had since been rebooked on a new flight leaving Sunday.