Air Canada is working on the cascade effects of serious winter weather and the cascade effects of the Air MHIRJ CRJ900 crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
The Montreal headquarters carrier said the storm in eastern Canada and “major aircraft incidents that have diminished capacity” in Toronto on February 18th saw several “very challenging” business days. Ta.
Carrier has cancelled around 1,300 flights in the past six days as Montreal and Toronto were hit by strong winds and heavy snow. Large-scale snow removal work is currently underway in both cities.
The weather could be a factor in the January 17th regional jet crash in Toronto Pearson, where a CRJ900 operated by a Delta subsidiary erupted in flames and overturned after a violent landing on a snowy runway I did. All 80 residents (76 passengers and four crew members) burned and escaped the reverse aircraft.
Weather data show gusts of wind blowing at the time of the accident, closing Toronto Pearson for several hours.
Delta said 21 injured people were taken to hospital to be treated for their injuries, and 19 were released on the morning of February 18th.
Flight Tracking website FlightAware shows Air Canada cancelled about 200 departures on February 17-18, with around 40% of flights delayed.
“We recognize that travel disruptions are inconvenient for our customers, but safety has always been our number one priority and sometimes we need to make sure that safe travel needs to be restrained and adapted to conditions. There is,” says the carrier.
According to FlightAware, Toronto-based Porter Airlines has derailed its operations by conditions at the hub and elsewhere in eastern Canada.
Calgary-based Westjet, Canada's second-largest airline, appeared to be unaffected by the Eastern Hub disruption.
