Winter weather systems sweeping across eastern Canada have triggered another day of widespread air travel disruption, with Air Canada, Porter Airlines, Jazz Aviation and other carriers reporting 92 cancellations and 479 delays across the country.

Operations at major hubs including Toronto Pearson, Montreal Trudeau and St. John’s were particularly hard hit as snow, low ceilings and gusty winds slowed deicing, reduced runway capacity and rippled through already stretched winter schedules.

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Storm system snarls key Canadian hubs

The latest round of disruption was driven by a fast–moving winter storm tracking across Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, bringing a mix of snow, freezing drizzle and periods of low visibility to some of the country’s busiest airports.

Forecasters reported bands of lake–enhanced snow over southern Ontario converging on Toronto Pearson, while Montreal contended with blowing snow and shifting wind directions that complicated runway operations.

At Toronto Pearson, Canada’s largest hub, ground movements slowed as snowplows cycled through runway and taxiway networks and aircraft queued for deicing.

Even modest accumulation can significantly stretch turnaround times in mid‑winter, and on this day that translated into dozens of late departures and inbound aircraft forced into holding patterns or diversions. With Pearson central to domestic connections, delays quickly cascaded onto regional services operated by Jazz and other carriers.

Montreal Trudeau saw similar conditions, as a tightening pressure gradient over the St. Lawrence Valley sent gusty crosswinds across the airfield and narrowed the operating window for takeoffs and landings. Crews were periodically forced to pause ground operations to maintain safety around active snow removal and deicing equipment, compounding the backlog of flights.

In Atlantic Canada, St. John’s International contended with blowing snow, low clouds and strong winds typical of winter systems in the region, pushing the smaller but vital transcontinental and regional schedules off track.

Impact on Air Canada, Porter, Jazz and partner carriers

While the disruption affected dozens of airlines, Canada’s major and regional carriers absorbed the bulk of the operational strain. Air Canada, which anchors long haul and domestic trunk routes at both Toronto and Montreal, saw many of its morning and early afternoon departures leave late as aircraft awaited deicing and slot releases.

The airline also proactively trimmed a portion of its schedule to preserve overall reliability, consolidating some flights and offering rebooking options for nonessential travel.

Porter Airlines, whose network is concentrated in Eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, faced particular challenges at Toronto’s downtown Billy Bishop Airport and at Montreal.

Porter’s Embraer E195‑E2 and De Havilland turboprop operations are especially sensitive to shifting crosswinds and tight performance margins on shorter runways, leading the carrier to delay or cancel select departures during the worst conditions. The airline encouraged affected passengers to manage changes through its website and app, where fee waivers were in effect for impacted routes.

Jazz Aviation, operating under the Air Canada Express brand, was on the front lines of the disruption. Its regional jets and turboprops connect secondary and smaller markets into Toronto, Montreal and other hubs, meaning any slowdown at the core quickly propagates onto spoke routes.

To maintain crew duty limits and aircraft positioning, Jazz cancelled a number of short–haul sectors and retimed others, a strategy that limited day‑of chaos but left many travelers rebooked onto later flights or routed through alternate cities.

Other domestic and international carriers, from WestJet to overseas flag airlines, also reported scattered delays as they slotted into constrained arrival and departure flows.

However, the structure of Canada’s aviation market, dominated by a handful of large players and their regional affiliates, meant the impact was most acute for customers booked on Air Canada and its partners, as well as on Porter in eastern markets.

Passenger experience: long lines, missed connections and scarce options

For travelers on the ground, the numbers translated into long queues at check‑in counters, security checkpoints and rebooking desks. With 479 delays recorded over the course of the day, many flights operated, but often hours behind schedule.

Passengers arriving into Toronto and Montreal on late–running transcontinental or transatlantic services faced tight or impossible connections onto regional onward flights, particularly to Atlantic Canada and smaller prairie and northern communities.

Social media posts from airports across the country described departure boards filled with red and amber notices, with passengers crowding around gate podiums seeking updates. Families returning from school breaks, business travelers headed to critical meetings and medical travelers connecting to major cities for appointments all found themselves caught up in the disruption.

For some, the delays amounted to extended airport waits; for others, overnight hotel stays became necessary as last departures of the day were cancelled or left without available seats.

Rental car counters in Toronto, Montreal and St. John’s reported an uptick in demand from passengers opting to complete their journeys by road where distances allowed. Rail alternatives on central corridors, including services between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, also saw increased bookings.

However, for many domestic itineraries, particularly in Atlantic Canada and the North, aviation remains the only practical option, leaving travelers with limited flexibility when winter weather settles over key hubs.

How airlines and airports are managing winter operations

Behind the scenes, the day highlighted the annual operational pivot Canadian carriers and airports must execute as winter intensifies. Deicing becomes a central constraint once temperatures drop and active precipitation moves in.

Each aircraft requires a specific sequence of fluid application and safety checks, and the process can add 30 minutes or more to a turnaround during peak periods, especially when multiple banks of departures are scheduled in close succession.

Airlines have already begun building additional buffer time into their winter schedules to accommodate deicing and slower ground movements, but surges like the latest storm can overwhelm even conservative planning.

At major hubs, air traffic control units coordinate with airport authorities and airline operations centers to meter departure and arrival rates, prioritizing long haul and international services where possible to minimize global knock‑on effects.

Airports themselves are working to keep runways, taxiways and aprons clear. Snow removal convoys, runway friction testing vehicles and specialized equipment for clearing gate areas operate in tightly choreographed rotations.

At the same time, passenger terminals must manage surging crowds with finite seating, concessions and customer service staff. Leading airports have expanded use of digital signage and push notifications via apps to direct passengers to updated gates, boarding times and baggage information.

Carriers including Air Canada and Porter have emphasized the use of mobile apps and self‑service channels as key tools for recovery. Many customers were able to rebook canceled flights, select alternative routings or request travel credits without joining physical queues.

However, travelers with more complex itineraries or special service needs still often require in‑person assistance, and airlines acknowledged that wait times at call centers and ticketing desks stretched well beyond normal levels during the storm.

Broader pattern of weather volatility this season

The disruptions fit into a broader pattern of weather volatility that has characterized the current travel season in Canada. Early snowfalls in southern Ontario, periods of heavy rain and wind along the Pacific coast and frequent freeze–thaw cycles in central Canada have all contributed to repeated waves of delays and cancellations since late autumn.

Industry analysts note that even as airlines refine schedules and invest in more resilient operations, an uptick in severe and fast–moving systems can easily outpace built‑in buffers.

For hubs like Toronto Pearson and Montreal Trudeau, the challenge is compounded by their role as both domestic connectors and international gateways. A winter storm in Ontario or Quebec can simultaneously disrupt business travelers shuttling between Canadian cities, leisure passengers heading to sun destinations, and long haul traffic linking Europe and Asia to North America.

This interdependence increases the risk that a single day of severe weather will generate multi–day recovery efforts as aircraft and crews are repositioned and backlogs are cleared.

Regional airports such as St. John’s, Halifax and Quebec City, while smaller, are particularly vulnerable to knock‑on effects from these hubs. Their schedules often rely on a handful of daily flights feeding into Toronto or Montreal.

When even one of those services is canceled or heavily delayed, local travelers can find themselves stranded with no same‑day alternative. Community leaders in several Atlantic and northern regions have renewed calls for more redundancy in air service and improved contingency planning as winter weather volatility continues.

Advice for travelers facing winter disruptions

With winter conditions likely to persist and recur, travel planners and frequent flyers are again stressing a set of practical strategies for navigating Canada’s storm season. Booking earlier departures in the day can provide valuable slack if weather slows operations, since airlines can more easily re‑accommodate passengers onto later flights.

Building longer connection windows at major hubs such as Toronto and Montreal also reduces the risk of misconnecting when deicing and runway maintenance create rolling delays.

Travelers are urged to download airline apps and enable notifications, as these channels often carry the earliest information on gate changes, departure time adjustments and rebooking options.

Many carriers automatically rebook passengers when flights are canceled, but those who proactively search for alternatives as soon as a disruption appears may secure scarce seats on the most desirable replacement flights. For critical journeys, some travelers weigh routing through alternate hubs or even via nearby U.S. gateways if schedules and border requirements permit.

Insurance and flexible fare options are another layer of protection that has gained traction in recent seasons. Policies that cover weather‑related delays, missed connections and overnight accommodations can soften the financial blow of a disrupted itinerary. Similarly, purchasing tickets with changeable conditions, even at a modest premium, can yield substantial value when a storm forces last‑minute adjustments.

Outlook for the coming days

Meteorologists expect conditions across central and eastern Canada to remain unsettled in the short term, with lingering snow showers, gusty winds and temperature swings all factors that can complicate flight operations.

While the intense banding that drove the latest round of disruption should ease, residual delays are likely to continue into subsequent days as airlines work through aircraft and crew imbalances created by cancellations and irregular routings.

Operational updates from major carriers suggest they will continue to pre‑emptively trim select flights when forecasts indicate marginal conditions, a strategy aimed at reducing day‑of chaos even if it means upfront inconvenience for some passengers.

Airport authorities in Toronto, Montreal and St. John’s have also signaled that snow and ice control teams will remain at heightened readiness, with overnight runway maintenance windows expanded where possible to position the airfields for morning departure banks.

For now, travelers planning to pass through affected airports are being advised to monitor their flight status closely in the 24 hours before departure and again on the day of travel.

With 92 cancellations and 479 delays recorded in this latest event alone, the message from both airlines and airports is that winter weather remains a central variable in Canadian air travel, one that passengers and operators alike must continue to factor into their plans.

FAQ

Q1. How many flights were affected by the latest winter weather event in Canada?
The most recent storm led to 92 flight cancellations and 479 delays across Canadian airports, with the heaviest impacts at Toronto Pearson, Montreal Trudeau and St. John’s.

Q2. Which airlines were hit the hardest?
Air Canada, Porter Airlines and Jazz Aviation bore the brunt of the disruption because of their large presence at key hubs and their role in feeding regional routes into Toronto and Montreal.

Q3. Why do winter storms cause so many delays even when runways are open?
Deicing requirements, slower taxi and takeoff speeds, reduced visibility and runway clearing all add time to each flight’s operation, creating bottlenecks that ripple through tightly scheduled networks.

Q4. Are smaller airports affected as much as larger hubs?
Smaller airports may see fewer total disruptions, but they can be more vulnerable because they depend on a limited number of daily flights. When a single departure is canceled, travelers often have no same‑day alternative.

Q5. What can passengers do if their flight is canceled due to weather?
Passengers should immediately check their airline’s app or website for automatic rebooking options, consider alternative routings or nearby airports, and contact customer service if they need to adjust connections or special services.

Q6. Do airlines provide compensation for weather‑related delays?
In most cases, weather disruptions are considered outside an airline’s control, so cash compensation is rare. However, carriers may offer fee‑free changes, travel credits, meal vouchers or hotel accommodations depending on the circumstances and local regulations.

Q7. How can travelers reduce the risk of missed connections in winter?
Booking earlier flights, allowing longer layovers at major hubs and avoiding very tight connections can significantly reduce the chance of misconnecting when deicing and runway maintenance slow operations.

Q8. Is it better to avoid connecting through Toronto and Montreal in winter?
Toronto Pearson and Montreal Trudeau are more exposed to winter storms, but they also offer the most flight options. For time‑sensitive trips, some travelers choose alternate routings through other Canadian or U.S. hubs when practical.

Q9. Should travelers consider buying travel insurance specifically for winter trips?
Many travelers find that policies covering weather‑related delays, missed connections and unexpected hotel stays are worthwhile during the winter season, especially for complex or high‑value itineraries.

Q10. What is the outlook for flight reliability over the rest of the winter?
Forecasters expect continued periods of unsettled weather, so occasional waves of disruption are likely. Airlines and airports are refining winter operations, but passengers should plan with flexibility and stay alert to changing conditions.