On an average day, approximately 47% of Air Canada’s flights and 46% of its customers pass through Toronto Pearson – the airline’s global hub. Because many of its aircraft and customers connect through Toronto at some point in the day, the airline says a disruption at Pearson can impact flights elsewhere in the system, creating a domino effect that can also affect flights not immediately travelling to or from Toronto.

During the recent back-to-back winter storms in eastern Canada, Air Canada says it reduced its schedule due to the weather limiting the number of flights permitted to take off and land at major airports. For example, at Toronto Pearson approximately 44 flights are normally allowed to take-off each hour, but with the conditions the number of movements was restricted to as few as 16 per hour for safety reasons, including to give the airport time to remove snow and ice.

Travel Industry Today experienced the latter firsthand, being delayed in Palm Springs for five hours as the inbound plane, which had arrived on time, was put on a “snow hold” until released later in the day for its return flight.

Countless others in different destinations suffered the same fate as flights were delayed – some for even longer – or cancelled altogether.

In total, three storms over the course of eight days in Toronto dropped 60 cm (24 inches) of snow in the city – an event of “historic” proportions and more than all of last winter combined, according to Environment Canada.

And as operations in Toronto, and the airlines that fly to and through there, struggled to catch up, the crash of a Delta Airlines plane at Pearson on Monday compounded the problems at the airport, extending all week as an investigation took place and two runways – one of them “the busiest in Canada,” according to Pearson officials – remained closed.

“Unfortunately, this (Delta) incident added to weather events… that have been extremely challenging for airlines in eastern Canada,” Craig Landry, Executive VP and COO at Air Canada, said at the time. “We recognize that travel disruptions are inconvenient for customers, but safety must always be our top priority and sometimes ensuring safe travel requires slowing down and adapting to conditions.”

He noted the dedication of Air Canada in their “willingness to work overtime and extra shifts, to take care of our customers.”

Acknowledging “extensive delays” during the scope of the storms and Delta incident, Landry tallied on the day after the Delta crash that Air Canada had already cancelled approximately 1,290 flights over the previous six days.

But he added, “Despite this, we successfully and safely moved more than 650,000 customers during that time.”

The Air Canada VP said the airline was restoring service as quickly as possible – adding extra flights and capacity where possible – but acknowledged it was limited by circumstances on the ground at Pearson.

Traveller guidelines

Since it’s safe to say that it will snow again in the future in Canada (if not again this winter), the airline lists the following travel readiness guidelines for passengers travelling during this time of year:

• Airports only allow aircraft to take off and land at a set rate. A storm reduces the number of aircraft that can take off and land, sometimes shutting down airport operations altogether.
• Everything moves more slowly in a storm. At an airport visibility is lower and at certain points activity stops altogether so runways, taxiways and the gates where aircraft park can be plowed to keep them clear of snow
• De-icing requirements can also delay departures and contribute to congestion. In snowy conditions, aircraft are required to have “clean” wings and other critical surfaces for take-off. Once sprayed, the aircraft has a limited time to take-off as, for safety reasons, the de-icing fluid is deemed effective for only a specified period. If there is a further delay for take-off, the aircraft may be required to return to the de-icing facility to be sprayed again and may even need to re-fuel.
• Airports have a finite number of gates for arriving and departing flights and this limits how many aircraft can park to load and unload passengers at a given time. If an aircraft can’t leave its gate to take off, other aircraft cannot use that gate to unload passengers. This creates congestion or gridlock. Gate assignments are planned well in advance but extensive delays can invalidate the schedule and require it to be reconstructed, again causing further delay.
• When a storm is anticipated, Air Canada will implement a flexible rebooking policy to allow customers to change and rebook their flights at no cost within a certain time period.
• If a flight is cancelled due to a storm, customers have the option to rebook on another flight if space is available or to request a full refund.

Information for customers

With this in mind, the airline advises that it offers extensive self-service tools on www.aircanada.com and on its Air Canada app for customers looking to cancel, change or make other changes to bookings. It further recommends that “these should be used whenever possible,” adding, that customers can also use these tools to obtain the latest status on their flights.

Contact centres and travel advisors

When there are travel disruptions, Air Canada says its contact centres typically experience very high volumes resulting in extended hold times. As such, customers not scheduled to travel within 48 hours are advised to call back closer to their planned departures.

The company further advises, “Customers who booked their travel through a travel agent, including online travel agencies, should contact their original booking source for assistance in rebooking.”

In either case, Air Canada notes that service can take longer than normal as its agents work with customers to find and book travel alternatives, which also adds to wait times. Customers who booked directly through aircanada.com or through our contact centres can use the call-back feature to avoid waiting, however call back wait times are elevated.

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