Canadian airlines continued to cancel flights by the hundreds following a record-breaking snowstorm that blasted southern Ontario and Quebec on Sunday and Monday before whirling farther east.
After hundreds of cancellations Sunday, aviation analytics firm Cirium said roughly 300 more flights across the country had been called off by 5 p.m. Monday affecting tens of thousands of travellers.
Toronto’s Pearson airport saw 152 departures cancelled, while the Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax airports had 101 nixed flights combined.
Environment Canada says Pearson saw the highest daily total snowfall on record with 46 cm on Sunday, with the airport experiencing further delays on Monday as cleanup continued.
Flight-tracking site FlightAware said more than 600 flights were cancelled at Pearson International Airport in a 24-hour span, and the airport was warning of further delays on Monday as cleanup continued.
The airport also said in a social media post that flights to and from Atlantic Canada and certain parts of the United States could be affected due to weather.
“With an event like this, it takes time for everyone’s flight schedules to get back to normal,” said Sean Davidson, a spokesman for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
In New York City, LaGuardia Airport shut down for several hours on Sunday.
“That airport alone will have a ripple effect up here in Toronto and other airports across North America,” Davidson said.
By day’s end, the Canadian cancellation tally had risen, with Air Canada saying it called off more than 300 flights Monday. But the broader figures marked an improvement from Sunday, when Pearson notched roughly 600 cancelled arrivals and departures versus about half that the following day.
“Subject to the weather remaining favourable, we anticipate our operations will recover at an increasing pace as aircraft and crew return to position, although the severe cold temperatures are hampering the process,” said Cale Daniels, Air Canada’s vice-president of systems operations control, in an email, adding, he said he expected a much lower cancellation total on Tuesday.
“The airlines have moved into recovery mode,” said Davidson. “As we continue into tonight and tomorrow, operations will begin to look more normal.”
Air travel will likely be disrupted for part of the week as service ramps back up, staggered over several days in step with the storm’s eastward progress.
Travellers were advised to check directly with their airline before going to the airport and give themselves plenty of time to get there.
Air Canada said customers with flights that were scheduled to take off or land at Pearson between last Friday and Monday could change their booking free of charge to a day in the following week, subject to availability.
The snow dump could continue to disrupt air travel for several days as airlines and airports recover, though preparations such as shifting planes and employees in the lead-up to the storm could allow them to bounce back with relative ease during a slower time of the winter travel season.
U.S.
Meanwhile, more snow piled up across the U.S. Northeast on Monday under the tail end of the colossal winter storm that brought lingering misery to parts of the South, where freezing rain left hundreds of thousands shivering without electricity. At least 25 deaths were reported amid the severe weather.
Deep snow – over 30 cm extending in a 2,100-km swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic, cancelled flights and triggered wide school closures Monday.
The U.S. had more than 11,000 flight delays and cancellations nationwide Monday, according to flight tracker flightaware.com. On Sunday, 45% of U.S. flights got cancelled, making it the highest day for cancellations since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
New York City saw its snowiest day in years, with 28 cm falling on Central Park. Main roads throughout the city were largely clear Monday morning, but pedestrians had to plod through snow on some sidewalks and multiple subway lines with above-ground tracks saw delays.
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