Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Toronto’s two airports after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop order on Friday, leaving many travellers stranded.
The order was issued shortly before 4 p.m. ET due to communications problems at regional air traffic control centres. The FAA lifted the order around 8:15 p.m. ET, allowing planes to take off again.
At Toronto Pearson International Airport, the hours-long ground stop resulted in all U.S.-bound departures and arrivals being halted. According to Pearson’s website, more than 120 U.S. flights scheduled to depart and arrive were cancelled.
Air Canada cancelled all of its flights to and from the U.S. for the remainder of the evening. The airline also said flights between Canada and the Caribbean and South America that transit U.S. airspace were also affected.
Toronto Pearson Airport spokesperson Erica Vella said 20 other international flights were also cancelled as a result of the ground stop order.
Despite flights resuming in the U.S., Vella warned there could be “some more delays” and “some cancellations” over the next few hours.
Speaking to CTV News Toronto, she noted that it would take time for airport operations to return to normal.
“We are working very, very closely with our airlines, and we will be moving into a bit of a recovery mode today and tomorrow to make sure that airlines can get their schedules back on schedule and make sure that passengers can get to their destinations,” Vella said.
She added that the airport’s emergency operations centres will remain activated while the airport moves into recovery mode.
Meanwhile, Toronto Billy Bishop Airport said it was monitoring the situation in co-ordination with airline and air traffic control partners.
The island airport noted that, in addition to Air Canada, Porter Airlines had cancelled all remaining Friday U.S.-inbound and outbound flights.
NAV Canada, the country’s air navigation service provider, said it briefly implemented “traffic management measures” at Pearson and three other major airports “to safely manage traffic volumes.”
NAV Canada said the U.S. ground stop has no impact on its operations and that its systems are operating normally.
Following the lifting of the ground stop order, NAV Canada said some delays may continue as operations return to normal and backlogs are cleared.
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Passengers frustrated
CP24 spoke to several passengers at the airport who were frustrated about the delays and cancellations.
Donna, who was flying to New York City for the weekend, said her flight was rescheduled for Saturday
“I was really hoping to fly out tonight. So, it’s a bit of an unfortunate situation,” she told CP24.
“Definitely very disappointed that my plans for the weekend have been cancelled, or at least very delayed.”
Derek was supposed to fly to Las Vegas and said Air Canada has told him to “stick around.” However, he was not optimistic that he’d get to his destination on time.
“It’s most likely going to be cancelled. And even if you’re rebooked till tomorrow, it’s unlikely. So, I think you’re going to have people with a lot of refunds,” Derek said.
Shahab Mirmiran came to Toronto on Monday for work and is hoping to get back to Los Angeles tonight.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know what’s going on. I have to go. I need to do something for work,” he said. “They’re just saying you have to wait.”
Another man who arrived from London, U.K., says he’s waiting to hear about his connecting flight to Raleigh, N.C.
“It stinks, but just holding off for a little bit and seeing what happens,” he said.
Toronto couple stranded
Toronto-area couple Lyle Jakobsen and his wife were supposed to fly back from Sint Maarten this afternoon when their Air Canada flight got cancelled.
“We boarded. Everything was fine. In probably 10 minutes after boarding, we got a notification that we would be delayed. There was the FAA issue, so we sat on the tarmac for, I would say, probably the better part of an hour and 15 minutes,” Jakobsen told CP24 on Friday night.
“The pilot kept us up to date while we were on the tarmac.”
Passengers were then deboarded, and Jakobsen said he was able to find a hotel where they could stay.
Air Canada has said that flights from the Caribbean and South America that have to pass through U.S. airspace would be impacted by the ground stop.
“Air Canada has been very communicative with us, and we’re happy with that for sure. So, what one more night in Saint Martin is probably not the worst scenario,” Jakobsen said, adding that he hopes that they get to fly back to Toronto on Saturday morning.
With files from CP24 reporter Natalie Van Rooy and The Canadian Press
