Toronto jet crash, winter storms disrupting Windsor airport flights

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Travelers hoping to escape the cold are facing flight delays at Windsor’s airport following an unyielding streak of winter storms and a Toronto plane crash that temporarily grounded flights Monday.

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It’s created flight cancellations, backlogs and air passenger headaches.

Travellers, especially those flying to Toronto-Pearson International Airport, should check with airlines to confirm their departure status, said the head of Windsor International Airport (YQG).

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“Air Canada has had some canceled flights,” local airport CEO Mark Galvin told the Star Wednesday.

“They canceled their morning flight. They canceled flights yesterday. The situation, obviously, at Pearson is very dynamic, and they’re working very hard to get back to normal operation.”

Footage on social media showed the horrific scene that unfolded Monday at the Toronto airport when a Delta Airlines jet lost control upon landing, skidding down the runway before flipping over in a fiery, smoke-filled crash.

Of the 76 passengers aboard the flight coming from Minneapolis-St. Paul, 15 were injured, three critically. There were no fatalities.

The incident temporarily suspended all flights leaving Toronto-Pearson for more than two hours, impacting schedules at Windsor airport.

“Obviously, they’re working pretty hard to get everything open, and they certainly want to fly these schedules,” said Galvin.

“Thankfully, these things don’t happen too often, and I know they’re working very hard up there at Pearson to get everything back to normal, and they’ve done a great job so far.”

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Galvin added that flights out of Windsor were already experiencing delays before the crash, since southwestern Ontario was hit by a barrage of major snowstorms last week.

The very weather travellers were trying to escape ended up keeping them from departing for their balmy destinations. Galvin called this year’s winter conditions an “anomaly” compared to last year.

“This year, with the three back-to-back storms, has been very challenging,” he said.

“I think last year we had a milder winter in Windsor. One of the things that is difficult is when we have that zero, minus-one bracket, where it gets icy. Snow can be cleared, but ice is a little more difficult to deal with.

“I know we had a couple of ice issues last year, although I don’t think we had very many delays, but this year, it’s been a bit of an anomaly, certainly with the storms coming one after the other.”

Officials from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have joined Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigators in probing Monday’s incident at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

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