Travelers flying in and out of Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport are facing another day of turbulence, as regional carrier Jazz Aviation and its mainline partner Air Canada grapple with a cluster of cancellations and mounting delays that are rippling across Canada’s busiest domestic corridors. With at least eight Jazz-operated flights canceled and multiple Air Canada services running late on February 7, 2026, the disruption is being felt on key routes linking Montreal with Toronto, Halifax, Quebec City, Vancouver and other major hubs, underscoring how fragile the country’s aviation network remains in the heart of winter.

Another Tough Day for Travelers at Montreal-Trudeau

Saturday traffic at Montreal-Trudeau is traditionally brisk, driven by a mix of business commuters, winter sun-seekers and leisure travelers heading to or returning from ski trips in Quebec and Western Canada. On February 7, however, that usual flow has been upended by a fresh wave of schedule upheaval. Regional carrier Jazz, which operates many flights under the Air Canada Express brand, has canceled a series of short-haul services, including at least one link between Toronto’s downtown Billy Bishop Airport and Montreal, while other departures have been pushed back amid operational strain.

The impact is immediately visible in the departure hall. Digital boards filled with “delayed” tags have become an all-too-familiar sight this winter, and passengers are once again forming long lines at customer-service counters in hopes of rebooking. While eight cancellations might seem modest compared with the hundreds seen during major winter storms, each lost flight removes precious capacity from Canada’s tightly scheduled regional network, complicating connections and leaving many travelers scrambling for options.

Adding to the frustration, many of the affected flights are short-hop segments that serve as vital feeders into Air Canada’s long-haul network. A canceled or significantly delayed regional leg can easily cause passengers to miss onward journeys to Western Canada, the United States or Europe, triggering costly last-minute changes and unexpected overnight stays. For travelers at Montreal-Trudeau on February 7, even those whose flights remained scheduled found themselves bracing for potential last-minute gate changes and rolling delays.

Key Domestic Corridors Feel the Strain

The most immediate fallout from the latest disruptions is being felt on the country’s busiest trunk routes. Links between Montreal and Toronto, which form the backbone of Canada’s domestic air system, have borne repeated hits this winter. On February 7, a Jazz-operated Air Canada Express service between Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Montreal was among the flights scrapped, eliminating an important connection for travelers who favor downtown-to-downtown convenience over the longer trek to the main Toronto Pearson hub.

Further east, routes to Halifax and other Atlantic Canada destinations are also feeling the squeeze. Halifax Stanfield International Airport has repeatedly featured in recent national disruption tallies, with snowstorms and high winds pushing regional carriers to cancel or consolidate flights. For Maritimers relying on Montreal as a gateway to Western Canada or international destinations, the combination of Jazz cancellations and broader network delays has turned what should be routine connections into logistical puzzles involving rerouting through Toronto or remaining overnight.

Within Quebec, services linking Montreal with Quebec City and regional communities are similarly exposed. Jazz plays an outsized role in serving smaller markets, and when its flights are cut, there are often limited alternatives. Missing one Montreal-Quebec City rotation can mean missing connecting buses, ferries or meetings, leaving travelers with few same-day options other than renting cars and driving through winter conditions. For many, the calculus between enduring airport uncertainty and braving snowy highways is becoming increasingly fraught.

Western Gateways and Long-Haul Knock-On Effects

While Montreal-Trudeau is at the center of the latest news, the reverberations stretch across the country, particularly toward Vancouver and Western Canada. Vancouver International Airport, one of the country’s primary hubs for transpacific travel, has faced repeated waves of delays and cancellations through the season, many of them tied to the same weather systems and operational pressures currently plaguing Montreal and Toronto. When regional feed into Montreal falters, it can cascade into missed connections on cross-country flights linking Quebec to British Columbia and Alberta.

Passengers booked on Montreal to Vancouver services on February 7 reported longer-than-normal lines at check-in and security as the schedule shifted throughout the morning. Some departures remained on the board, but with creeping delays that made connection times tight. For travelers planning tight schedules into Vancouver, whether they were connecting onward to Asia or heading to popular winter resorts in Whistler and the Okanagan, the uncertainty around departure times added stress to already complex itineraries.

Beyond Vancouver, knock-on effects are also being felt at other Western gateways, including Calgary and regional airports that depend on Jazz and other feeder airlines. When a regional carrier trims flights, it can find it difficult to reposition aircraft and crew quickly, meaning today’s problem in Montreal may manifest tomorrow as a delayed morning departure in another city. In a winter dominated by rolling storms and backlogged schedules, these network ripples have become a defining feature of Canadian air travel.

Weather, Workforce Pressures and the Winter Storm Legacy

The immediate catalyst for many of this winter’s disruptions has been severe weather. A powerful storm system in late January dumped historic snow totals on Toronto and affected airports across central and eastern Canada. Toronto Pearson alone saw hundreds of flights canceled in a matter of hours during the height of that event, while Montreal and Ottawa also struggled to keep runways and taxiways clear. Even after the skies cleared, the storm’s legacy continued in the form of displaced aircraft, exhausted crews and a backlog of passengers looking to rebook.

For carriers like Air Canada and its regional affiliate Jazz, winter is always challenging, but this season has been particularly punishing. Snowstorms and blizzard warnings have hit multiple days and multiple regions in quick succession, limiting the ability of airlines to rely on unaffected hubs to absorb disrupted traffic. When Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver all experience weather or operational pressures within the same week, there are few fallback options left in the system.

Operational strain is compounded by workforce pressures. After several years of pandemic-related disruptions, staffing levels at Canadian airlines and airports remain tightly calibrated. While carriers have been hiring, the combination of training timelines, regulatory limits on crew duty hours and unexpected illness or fatigue can leave operations vulnerable. On days when delays stack up and turnaround times stretch, crew schedules can quickly run up against legal limits, forcing last-minute cancellations even when weather has begun to improve.

Passenger Experiences: Long Lines, Missed Plans and Scrambled Alternatives

For travelers, the statistics behind cancellations and delays translate into very personal stories of missed events, broken plans and unexpected expenses. At Montreal-Trudeau on February 7, passengers on canceled Jazz and Air Canada flights faced the now-familiar ritual of queuing for rebooking assistance, often for hours. Many had already checked in online or through the app, only to find their flight status changing to “canceled” or “delayed” shortly before departure.

Those with flexible plans, such as leisure travelers, often sought later flights the same day, or accepted routings through alternative hubs like Toronto Pearson or Ottawa. For business travelers and those with time-sensitive commitments, however, a cancellation on short-haul routes like Montreal Toronto or Montreal Halifax can mean lost meetings, non-refundable accommodation costs or missed family events. In some cases, passengers opted to rent cars, sharing one-way drives between Montreal and Toronto or Quebec City, calculating that several hours on winter roads might be more predictable than waiting for an uncertain replacement flight.

Families traveling with children have faced additional challenges. Extended waits in crowded terminals, shifting gate information and late-night arrivals are difficult enough for solo travelers; for parents juggling strollers, snacks and fatigue-prone toddlers, the burden is magnified. While both Jazz and Air Canada have made efforts to provide meal vouchers, hotel stays and rebooking support in specific circumstances, not all passengers qualify for full assistance, particularly when disruptions are attributed to weather rather than controllable operational issues.

How Airlines and Airports Are Responding

Both Jazz and Air Canada have leaned on a familiar suite of tools to manage the fallout from the disruptions centered on Montreal-Trudeau. Flexible rebooking policies have been activated or extended on days with the heaviest operational impact, allowing passengers to move their trips to different flights or dates without change fees. In some cases, travelers are advised to consider secondary airports or alternative routings in order to reach their destinations on the same day.

At the airport level, Montreal-Trudeau has deployed additional staff to key pinch points, including check-in counters, security lanes and customer-service desks. Public announcements and updated flight boards are working in tandem with airline apps and text alerts to keep travelers informed, although the pace of change has made it difficult to guarantee that all passengers receive timely updates. Ground handling crews and de-icing operations remain under heavy demand, with effort focused on ensuring that flights that do depart do so safely and as close to schedule as possible.

Behind the scenes, airline operations centers are engaged in constant triage, deciding which routes can sustain temporary cuts and which must be protected at all costs. Trunk routes linking Canada’s major cities, such as Montreal Toronto and Montreal Vancouver, remain high priorities, but even these key corridors have not been immune to cancellations when crew and aircraft positioning becomes untenable. Regional spokes to smaller communities, while critically important, often bear the brunt of schedule pruning simply because there are fewer passengers per flight and fewer operational alternatives.

Practical Advice for Travelers Navigating Canadian Winter Disruptions

For those planning to travel through Montreal-Trudeau or other major Canadian airports in the coming days and weeks, a few practical strategies can help mitigate the risk of disruption. The first is to build buffer time into itineraries, especially when connecting from a regional Jazz-operated flight onto an Air Canada mainline service or an international partner. Where possible, choosing longer connection windows can provide a cushion against minor delays that might otherwise lead to missed flights.

Arriving early at the airport remains essential during periods of operational stress. Longer check-in and security lines mean that the old habit of arriving just over an hour before a domestic flight is increasingly risky in peak disruption periods. Travelers are also encouraged to rely heavily on airline apps and mobile notifications, which tend to reflect schedule changes more quickly than printed boarding passes or even airport flight boards in some cases.

Finally, passengers should familiarize themselves with their rights and airline policies. While Canadian air-passenger protection rules provide for certain forms of compensation or assistance when disruptions are deemed within an airline’s control, weather-related cancellations are often treated differently. Understanding what is and is not covered can help set realistic expectations regarding hotel vouchers, meal credits and rebooking options during stormy stretches of the winter travel season.

The Takeaway

The latest bout of travel turbulence at Montreal-Trudeau underscores an uncomfortable reality for Canadian travelers this winter. Even a relatively small cluster of cancellations, such as the eight Jazz flights dropped from Saturday’s schedule, can trigger outsized disruption across a network already strained by storms, staffing pressures and residual backlogs from earlier weather events. When those cancellations intersect with key corridors linking Montreal to Toronto, Halifax, Quebec City, Vancouver and beyond, the knock-on effects spread quickly.

For Jazz and Air Canada, the challenge is to balance safety and operational integrity with the expectations of passengers who are increasingly weary of last-minute changes. For travelers, the lesson is to plan with winter’s unpredictability in mind, building flexibility into routes and timing wherever possible. As February unfolds and Canada inches toward spring, airlines and airports will be hoping for more stable conditions. Until then, anyone traveling through Montreal and other major hubs would be wise to keep a close watch on flight status screens, pack patience alongside their carry-on baggage and treat every on-time departure as a welcome victory in a difficult season.

FAQ

Q1. What exactly happened at Montreal-Trudeau on February 7, 2026?
On February 7, 2026, Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport experienced a fresh wave of disruptions as at least eight Jazz-operated flights were canceled and additional Air Canada services were delayed, affecting key domestic routes and leaving many travelers facing missed connections and long waits.

Q2. Which routes were most affected by the cancellations and delays?
The disruptions heavily impacted major domestic corridors, including services linking Montreal with Toronto, Halifax, Quebec City and Vancouver. Short-haul feeder routes, particularly those operated by Jazz under the Air Canada Express banner, saw cancellations and delays that rippled through the wider network.

Q3. Why are Jazz and Air Canada so central to these disruptions?
Jazz operates a large share of Air Canada’s regional network, flying under the Air Canada Express brand and connecting smaller cities to major hubs like Montreal and Toronto. When Jazz cancels flights, it directly affects Air Canada’s ability to move passengers onto longer-haul domestic and international services.

Q4. Is weather the only reason for these flight problems?
Weather is a major factor, particularly after recent snowstorms that hit central and eastern Canada, but it is not the only cause. The combination of severe winter conditions, tight staffing, crew duty-hour limits and aircraft positioning issues has created a fragile operating environment where relatively small problems can quickly lead to cancellations and delays.

Q5. How do cancellations in Montreal affect airports like Toronto and Vancouver?
Cancellations at Montreal-Trudeau can cause a chain reaction across the network. When regional feeders into Montreal are cut, passengers miss onward flights to hubs like Toronto Pearson and Vancouver International, leading to further rebooking, aircraft and crew imbalances and additional pressure on already busy schedules in those cities.

Q6. What are airlines doing to help affected passengers?
Jazz and Air Canada have deployed flexible rebooking policies on heavily disrupted days, allowing passengers to move travel dates or flights without extra change fees. They are also providing assistance such as meal vouchers or hotel accommodations in certain circumstances, although support varies depending on whether the cause is weather-related or deemed within the airline’s control.

Q7. What can travelers do to reduce their risk of being stranded?
Travelers can build longer connection times into their itineraries, especially when relying on regional flights to feed into mainline or international services. Arriving early at the airport, monitoring airline apps closely for updates and being prepared with backup options such as alternative routings or next-day departures can also help reduce the risk of being stranded.

Q8. Are passengers entitled to compensation for delays and cancellations?
In Canada, air-passenger protection rules may provide compensation or assistance when disruptions are within an airline’s control, such as certain mechanical or operational issues. However, weather-related cancellations and delays are often excluded from compensation requirements, though airlines may still offer rebooking and limited support as a goodwill gesture.

Q9. Should travelers avoid connecting through Montreal this winter?
There is no blanket need to avoid Montreal, but travelers should be realistic about winter risks. Choosing longer connection windows, traveling earlier in the day when possible and staying flexible with dates can make itineraries through Montreal more resilient. Those with critical time-sensitive commitments may wish to consider non-stop options when available.

Q10. How long are these disruptions expected to continue?
While the most intense impacts are tied to specific storm systems and operational pinch points, winter in Canada routinely brings bouts of disruption. Conditions should gradually improve as the season progresses, but travelers in February and early March should still plan for the possibility of weather-related delays and keep a close watch on flight status updates.