Massive backlog at Pearson in aftermath due to extreme cold
Posted January 8, 2014 8:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO (NEWS1130) – The situation is overwhelming at Pearson International Airport, with precisely 400 flights cancelled on Wednesday morning in both arrivals and departures.
The delays are a result of extreme cold triggering a ground stop at the airport on Tuesday, which prevented North American flights from landing for more than eight hours.
The cold made it unsafe for ground crews to work outside.
Speaking to Breakfast Television, Scott Armstrong, Vice President of Strategy Development with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, explained how long it will take to get back to normal.
“It will take time,” Armstrong said. “The airlines will have to find seats on planes to move people and unfortunately that’s not something that can happen in a matter of hours, that’s a matter of days to get fixed up.”
People have been sleeping at the airport and there are mountains of luggage waiting for pickup.
Armstrong admits he doesn’t remember Pearson ever being this affected by the extreme cold.
“We do see it from time to time with severe weather, sometimes just lightning storms, sometimes regular snow storms where there’s a huge quantity of snow but not ice,” Armstrong said. “But, in terms of being this affected by extreme cold weather no, there’s nothing in recent memory.”
According to Armstrong, a ground stop is only declared after all other operations have been exhausted.
The GTAA will be conducting a review of the response to the cold but told the Toronto Star that it wasn’t a mistake, even though other North American airports facing similar conditions remained operational.
