Passengers traveling through Vancouver International Airport are experiencing another day of significant disruption as at least 75 flights are delayed and 12 canceled, affecting services operated by Air Canada, WestJet, Delta Air Lines and several international carriers. The knock-on impact is being felt on key routes linking Vancouver with Toronto, Calgary, New York, Tokyo and multiple major cities across the United States, straining already fragile winter schedules across North America and the Pacific.
Fresh Wave of Disruptions Hits Vancouver Hub
The latest round of disruptions at Vancouver International Airport comes as Canada contends with recurring episodes of severe winter weather and tight airline operating margins. On February 16, 2026, delay and cancellation statistics at major Canadian hubs once again showed elevated disruption levels, with Vancouver joining Toronto Pearson, Montréal–Trudeau and Calgary in reporting dozens of interrupted flights.
According to same‑day operational data and industry reports, Vancouver’s tally has climbed to roughly 75 delayed flights and 12 cancellations, placing additional strain on one of Western Canada’s busiest gateways. While the numbers are lower than peak chaos events seen earlier in the season across the country, the concentration of issues in Vancouver is especially painful for travelers connecting on long-haul and transborder itineraries.
The affected services cover both domestic and international operations, including frequent shuttle-style links to Toronto and Calgary and long-haul connections to Asia and the United States. Disruptions at Vancouver are also reverberating through airline networks, with late-arriving aircraft and displaced crews leading to secondary delays at other Canadian and U.S. airports.
Air Canada, WestJet and Delta Among Hardest Hit
National carrier Air Canada and Calgary-based WestJet are bearing much of the burden of the current disruptions at Vancouver, reflecting their dominant presence in the Canadian market. Operational snapshots from recent weeks show these airlines consistently appearing at the top of delay and cancellation tables at major hubs, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and Calgary.
Earlier nationwide disruption data released on February 16 indicated that Air Canada had logged dozens of delays and multiple cancellations across the country in a single day, while WestJet and regional affiliates such as WestJet Encore and Jazz also reported significant irregular operations. Against that backdrop, the fresh wave of 75 delays and 12 cancellations centered on Vancouver is continuing the pattern rather than representing an isolated incident.
Delta Air Lines, which links Vancouver with key U.S. gateways such as Seattle and major hubs further south and east, is also affected. Delta’s flights into and out of Vancouver depend heavily on tight connection banks in the United States; any disruption in Vancouver can therefore cascade into missed onward flights for passengers heading to the U.S. Midwest, the South and the East Coast. Other international carriers, including Asian and transpacific airlines, are encountering delays primarily linked to congestion in the arrival and departure flows at Vancouver and weather-related constraints on routing.
Key Routes to Toronto, Calgary, New York and Tokyo Disrupted
The routes experiencing the most visible impact are some of Canada’s and the Pacific region’s most heavily traveled corridors. Vancouver–Toronto and Vancouver–Calgary flights, served by both Air Canada and WestJet, are among the core domestic connections feeding business, governmental and leisure traffic across the country. With multiple frequencies per day, even a handful of cancellations or rolling delays can leave passengers scrambling for rebookings and create crowding at customer service counters.
Transborder flights between Vancouver and major U.S. cities are also affected, particularly services to New York and other American hubs that rely on narrow scheduling windows to maintain same‑day connections. Routes into New York area airports are experiencing delays as winter weather and airspace constraints combine with the bottlenecks at Vancouver, lengthening flight times and turnarounds.
On the long-haul side, flights between Vancouver and Tokyo and other major Asian cities have been subject to schedule changes and extended departure holds. Japan‑bound flights, often filled with both leisure travelers and business passengers, are especially sensitive to timing issues because missed connections at the other end can mean long layovers or even overnight stays. Some carriers have opted to delay departures from Vancouver to ensure connections for inbound travelers from Toronto, Calgary and U.S. cities, which can help some passengers while inconveniencing others on tightly timed itineraries.
Weather, Congested Airspace and Operational Strains
Weather remains a primary driver of irregular operations at Vancouver and other Canadian airports during this period. In recent days, a series of winter systems has brought low cloud, reduced visibility and sub‑freezing temperatures to parts of Western Canada, conditions that require additional spacing between aircraft, extended de‑icing operations and slower airport ground handling across the board.
Current operational statistics for Vancouver show a meaningful share of flights running late, with average delay times stretching beyond half an hour on some days. Although outright cancellations are less frequent than peak disruption episodes seen earlier in the winter, the cumulative effect of recurrent smaller delays is clogging departure banks, complicating gate assignments and interfering with carefully balanced crew schedules.
Congested airspace along key corridors, including routes to Toronto and major U.S. hubs, is exacerbating the problem. When weather compresses usable airspace or reduces runway capacity, air traffic control may implement flow restrictions that force airlines to push back departure times or hold arriving aircraft in airborne queues. For long-haul services such as those linking Vancouver with Tokyo, even small changes in routing or holding patterns can produce significant schedule knock‑on effects across transpacific networks.
Network Effects Across Canada and the United States
The disruption at Vancouver is not occurring in isolation. Over recent months, Canada’s large airports have experienced a series of irregular operations events, with nationwide tallies on some days exceeding several hundred combined delays and cancellations. Reports in mid‑February highlighted more than 300 impacted flights countrywide in a single day, with Toronto Pearson, Montréal–Trudeau, Vancouver and Calgary all listed among the worst affected.
Because major Canadian airlines operate hub‑and‑spoke networks, a problem at one airport rapidly propagates elsewhere. An aircraft delayed departing Vancouver for Toronto will arrive late at Pearson, where it might be scheduled to operate a later flight to a U.S. city such as Chicago, New York, Boston or Atlanta. Each knock‑on delay creates further schedule pressure, making it more difficult for airlines to recover the operation without resorting to cancellations.
U.S. airlines such as Delta, American and United, which operate their own hubs south of the border, are also feeling the ripple effects. Delayed inbound aircraft from Vancouver can miss departure banks in cities like Seattle, Minneapolis–St. Paul or New York, forcing airlines to either delay onward flights or rebook passengers through alternative gateways. For travelers, this can mean unexpected overnight stays, rerouting through distant hubs or the loss of nonrefundable accommodation bookings and event tickets.
Stranded Passengers Face Long Queues and Limited Options
For travelers caught up in the latest disruptions at Vancouver, the most immediate impact is long waits, both at the airport and on customer service channels. Reports from recent nationwide disruption days described thousands of passengers stranded across Canadian terminals as they queued to rebook or seek compensation. While the current Vancouver‑focused wave is smaller in scale, anecdotal accounts point to busy check‑in halls, crowded departure gates and extended telephone hold times with airline call centers.
Travelers on domestic hops between Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary typically have more rebooking options, as multiple daily flights and competition between airlines provide a greater number of seats to accommodate disrupted passengers. However, those on long‑haul or transpacific routes have far fewer alternatives. Once a Tokyo, New York or other major U.S. departure is canceled or significantly delayed, finding an open seat on the same day can be challenging, especially during peak travel periods or school holiday weeks.
Accommodation and meal vouchers are being issued on a case‑by‑case basis, depending on airline policy, the cause of the disruption and the applicable passenger rights regimes. Some travelers are turning to social media and local news outlets to share their experiences and seek advice, while others are attempting to bypass congested call centers by rebooking through mobile apps or airport kiosks where available.
Airlines Adjust Schedules and Capacity Strategies
The latest operational issues at Vancouver come at a time when Canadian carriers are already re‑evaluating their schedules and capacity strategies, particularly for services linking Canada with the United States. In early February, WestJet confirmed that it would cut a set of Canada–U.S. routes and scale back summer 2026 transborder capacity substantially, citing a notable decline in demand for cross‑border travel during 2025.
Those planned reductions include multiple routes touching Vancouver, such as services to Boston, San Diego, San Francisco and Nashville, alongside cuts affecting Calgary and Edmonton. WestJet’s decision to trim its transborder network underscores the delicate balance airlines must strike between maintaining connectivity and avoiding under‑performing routes that can absorb aircraft and crew resources needed elsewhere in the network.
Air Canada and its regional partners, along with U.S. carriers serving Vancouver, are similarly fine‑tuning schedules for the upcoming seasons. In an environment where winter weather disruptions and infrastructure constraints frequently derail plans, airlines are trying to build more resilience into their operations, adding schedule padding, adjusting aircraft rotations and selectively trimming frequencies where demand does not justify the operational risk.
What Travelers Should Do If Their Flight Is Affected
Passengers scheduled to fly through Vancouver, particularly on routes to and from Toronto, Calgary, New York, Tokyo and major U.S. hubs, are being urged to stay vigilant and monitor their flight status closely. Airlines are pushing updates through mobile apps, text messages and email notifications, but high levels of disruption can sometimes lead to delays in communication. Experts recommend checking flight status repeatedly in the hours leading up to departure, even if earlier messages indicated that a flight was on time.
Travel planners advise that, where possible, passengers build additional buffer time into their itineraries, especially when planning same‑day connections or time‑sensitive arrivals. Rebooking to earlier flights, choosing routings with longer connection windows and avoiding the last flight of the day on critical legs can reduce the risk of becoming stranded due to cascading delays.
Travel insurance policies with disruption coverage may help offset the cost of unexpected hotel stays, meals or alternative transportation. However, coverage terms vary widely, and travelers are encouraged to review policy details carefully before departure. In the meantime, airline operations teams at Vancouver and across Canadian and U.S. hubs are working to stabilize schedules, reposition aircraft and crews, and gradually clear the backlog created by another difficult day in a turbulent travel season.