Hundreds of passengers across Canada are facing long hours in terminals, unexpected overnight stays and uncertain connections as a fresh wave of flight cancellations and delays ripples through the country’s air network. From Halifax to Calgary and Montreal to Toronto, major carriers including Air Canada, WestJet, Jazz and American Airlines are scrambling to recover schedules after severe winter weather and operational constraints triggered 105 cancellations and 291 delays in a single day at key airports and regional hubs.
Storm Systems and a Strained Winter Network
The latest disruption comes against the backdrop of a punishing winter for Canadian aviation, marked by back to back storms and Arctic outbreaks that have repeatedly tested airport infrastructure and airline resilience. February has brought a fast moving system sweeping across central and eastern Canada, compounding earlier snow events that already left airports working through backlogs of displaced aircraft and crews.
Environment Canada alerts have become a familiar feature of this season, particularly in southern Ontario and Quebec, where snow squalls, gusty crosswinds and rapidly changing visibility have forced air traffic controllers and ground operations teams to throttle back departures and extend arrival spacing. For carriers like Air Canada, Jazz and WestJet, these constraints dramatically reduce the number of flights that can safely operate each hour, forcing the cancellation of entire rotations.
While Canada’s major hubs are engineered for winter, the intensity, frequency and broad geographical reach of recent storms have narrowed operational windows to a point where even small disruptions can cascade throughout the system. As aircraft and crews struggle to get back into position, passengers at seemingly unaffected airports can still find their flights delayed or cancelled because key inbound segments never depart.
Halifax and Atlantic Canada: Vulnerable at the Edge of the System
In Halifax and across Atlantic Canada, travellers have been particularly exposed to the knock on effects of storms that originate further west. Halifax Stanfield International Airport has seen a succession of weather related disruptions this season, and the newest wave of 105 cancellations and 291 delays includes multiple flights in and out of the Nova Scotia capital.
When nor’easters sweep up the Atlantic coast or spill out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Halifax often sits directly in the path of heavy snow bands and low cloud ceilings. Even when conditions permit limited operations, runway clearing cycles and de icing queues slow down the entire flow of aircraft. For regional operators, each cancelled leg can sever lifeline connections to smaller communities, leaving passengers with no immediate alternative routing.
Those booked on Air Canada Express and Jazz services have seen particular volatility, as turboprop and regional jet aircraft are more sensitive to crosswinds, icing conditions and tight runway performance margins. Passengers bound for onward connections through Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa are frequently held in Halifax while hubs manage their own congestion, leading to long waits and overnight stays, often with hotel rooms in short supply.
Toronto and Southern Ontario: Record Snowfall and Recurring Gridlock
Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada’s busiest hub, remains the epicentre of the country’s air travel disruption. Earlier in the season the airport recorded its largest single day snowfall since records began, with more than 40 centimetres blanketing runways, taxiways and gate areas. The same weather patterns that produced those records are still feeding fresh rounds of snow and freezing drizzle into southern Ontario, setting the stage for further network strain.
In the most recent wave of disruptions, Pearson once again accounts for a substantial share of the cancellations and delays, affecting flights operated by Air Canada, WestJet and their regional partners, as well as transborder services flown by American Airlines and other United States carriers. De icing has become a persistent bottleneck, with aircraft queued on taxiways as crews work against both the clock and the cold to keep wings and control surfaces clear of ice.
The sheer scale of Pearson’s operation means that every cancelled departure ripples across the nation and beyond. A Toronto to Calgary flight scrubbed in the morning can leave an aircraft and crew unavailable for later legs to Vancouver, Halifax or United States destinations, impacting passengers thousands of kilometres away. For travellers, this translates into missed connections, overnight diversions and last minute rebookings onto already crowded flights.
Montreal, Quebec City and the Eastern Corridor
Along the key Montreal Quebec Toronto corridor, airports are juggling heavy demand with repeated bouts of winter weather that challenge both air traffic management and ground handling. Montreal Trudeau and Quebec City Jean Lesage have each seen waves of cancellations and delays as snowfall, gusting winds and low visibility push operations to the edge of acceptable limits.
For Air Canada and WestJet, Montreal functions as both a domestic connector and an international gateway, magnifying the impact of each operational decision. When runway clearing or de icing slows departures, the priority often shifts to maintaining critical long haul services while trimming domestic frequencies. This leaves passengers on shorter routes to and from Quebec City and Atlantic Canada facing higher odds of cancellations or multi hour delays.
Regional and northern routes add another layer of complexity. Flights that link Montreal and Quebec City with remote communities in Nunavik and Labrador are highly sensitive to weather at both ends of the journey. A blizzard in a coastal community can result in aircraft and crews stranded far from maintenance bases, further tightening capacity for the rest of the network. The current tally of 105 cancellations and 291 delays reflects not just local conditions, but an intricate web of interdependencies stretching deep into Canada’s north.
Calgary and Western Canada: Chinooks, Cold Snaps and Operational Whiplash
Calgary, while not at the centre of the latest eastern focused system, has been experiencing its own brand of winter volatility. Sudden shifts between balmy chinook conditions and sharp Arctic snaps have repeatedly upended operational planning at Calgary International Airport. Ground crews and airlines must constantly recalibrate for changing runway friction, de icing demand and crew duty time limitations.
When severe cold presses south from the Arctic, de icing times lengthen and equipment failures become more likely, leaving aircraft waiting longer at gates and on taxiways. As with Toronto and Montreal, these delays quickly propagate across western routes. Flights to Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and transborder destinations can all be affected, even when skies appear relatively clear.
For passengers, the result can be a confusing patchwork of on time departures alongside last minute cancellations. Airlines such as WestJet, which maintain significant operations out of Calgary, juggle recovery plans that include swapping aircraft, rerouting crews and asking travellers to accept itinerary changes that may mean additional stops or overnight layovers in connecting hubs further east.
Inside Airline Operations: How Disruptions Cascade
Behind the departure boards and gate announcements, airline operations control centres are working through a series of complex trade offs each time weather or operational limits tighten. A decision to cancel a single morning flight from Halifax to Toronto, for example, might be driven not only by conditions at Halifax, but also by the need to preserve a later international departure from Toronto that relies on the same aircraft and crew.
Carriers like Air Canada, WestJet and Jazz maintain tight utilization schedules for their fleets, especially in winter, when spare aircraft are limited and maintenance demands are higher. When weather closes a runway or slows traffic flow, dispatchers must quickly identify which flights to protect and which to cut. Long haul services with hundreds of passengers and tight slot times at overseas airports usually receive priority, while shorter domestic legs face a higher risk of cancellation.
American and other foreign carriers operating into Canadian hubs are making parallel calculations. A delayed or cancelled inbound flight from a United States hub can leave passengers in Montreal or Toronto stranded, even if local weather has improved. Conversely, when Canadian airports impose arrival rate reductions due to snow or low visibility, inbound flights may be held on the ground in Chicago, New York or Dallas, adding further complexity to already snarled schedules.
What Passengers Are Experiencing on the Ground
For travellers caught in the current wave of disruptions, the experience is a mix of long queues, anxious waits at gate areas and a scramble for information as airlines update schedules in real time. At Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary, stranded passengers have reported difficulty finding new seats on later flights, with many services already operating near capacity even before cancellations reduced available inventory.
Families and business travellers alike are encountering bottlenecks at customer service desks as carriers attempt to rebook hundreds of passengers following each cancellation decision. Airline call centres and mobile apps are under heavy load, with some passengers reporting long hold times and slow response through digital channels as weather related changes outpace the ability of systems to automatically reassign seats.
Accommodation is another pain point. During peak disruption periods, nearby hotels at major hubs fill quickly, leaving some travellers to sleep in terminal waiting areas or arrange their own lodging further from the airport. While passenger rights rules and airline policies provide for meal vouchers and hotel coverage in certain circumstances, the distinction between “controllable” airline issues and true weather events remains a source of confusion and frustration for many.
Practical Advice for Travellers Navigating the Disruptions
With winter far from over and airlines still working to stabilize schedules after repeated weather shocks, passengers planning trips through Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Calgary and other Canadian gateways should prepare for continued volatility in the days ahead. Building additional buffer time into itineraries is crucial, especially for journeys involving tight domestic to international connections or travel to remote destinations served by limited daily frequencies.
Experts consistently recommend that travellers monitor flight status frequently in the 24 hours before departure and use airline apps to enable real time notifications of schedule changes. Checking the operating carrier is also important, since many flights are codeshares operated by regional partners such as Jazz. Rebooking options can vary depending on which airline actually flies the route.
Those already on the road can improve their chances of a smoother recovery by acting quickly when cancellations are announced, whether through self service tools or by reaching out to airline agents. In times of mass disruption, alternative seats tend to disappear within minutes, particularly on routes linking major hubs like Toronto and Montreal with Atlantic Canada and western centres. For now, hundreds of passengers remain marooned in terminals across the country as airlines triage the latest set of 105 cancellations and 291 delays, a stark reminder that this winter travel season is far from normal.