WestJet cancelling flights across Canada amid storm: ‘Unlike anything we’ve experienced’

WestJet says it’s proactively cancelling flights at airports in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec as storm systems bear down on the regions.

The airline says the cancellations apply to all flights scheduled to arrive and depart Toronto’s Pearson International Airport beginning Friday at 9 a.m. eastern time until the end of the day.

All scheduled flights into and out of Vancouver International Airport between 11:50 p.m. Pacific time Thursday and late Friday afternoon are also cancelled.

Other airports affected by the service disruptions include those in Ottawa, London, Montreal, Waterloo, Abbotsford, Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox.

As of Thursday night, WestJet had cancelled 243 flights scheduled for Friday in the Vancouver region, Vancouver Island and southern Ontario and Quebec. That’s on top of 119 cancellations Thursday.

The airline says all impacted guests have been notified.

1:31
What Canadians need to know about extreme winter weather storming across North America

Diederik Pen, WestJet’s chief operations officer, says in a statement the decision to stand down more flights is extremely difficult but necessary in order to fly safely with as little disruption as possible when the weather improves.

“The prolonged and extreme weather events that continue to impact multiple regions across Canada are unlike anything we’ve experienced,” Pen said Thursday.

This week, WestJet said had to cancel 104 flights on Sunday, Dec. 18, 146 flights on Monday, Dec. 19, 240 flights on Tuesday, Dec. 20 and 192 flights on Wednesday, Dec. 21.