Freezing rain leaves travel delays and cancellations at N.S. airport

Air travel in the Maritimes is back on schedule after bad weather forced cancellations.

Flights began moving later Tuesday after the worst of the weather in Halifax subsided. Travellers were scrambling as lineups continued at the terminals, and passengers stood around waiting for flights.

The departure and arrival boards were glowing orange with delays Tuesday.

The delays come after the Halifax Stanfield International Airport closed its airfield for about 10 hours Monday.

“What we had yesterday occur at the airport was a significant freezing rain event where we had persistent freezing rain occur at the airport affecting our crews ability to stay ahead of that for a number of hours, the airfield itself closed around 3:30pm yesterday and wasn’t able to reopen until just after 1 a.m.,” says Tiffany Chase, Halifax Stanfield International Airport spokesperson.

Chase says there were around 50 cancellations and diversions during the time of the airfield closure.

“Some of those diverted flights would have gone to other places in Atlantic Canada but also parts of Canada such as Toronto or Montreal. Those passengers will be redirected by airlines in the coming days so people should stay tuned to their airline directly,” adds Chase.

Despite the airfield opening at 1 a.m. Tuesday, airlines weren’t sure when that would happen and had to prepare travel plans ahead of that notice.

“Most of the flights that were planned for the early morning were either canceled or looking at delays as the airlines were trying to understand when it would reopen. So earlier this morning we saw some flights start to operate but we still have a number of delays on the board,” adds Chase.

Shawn Zinck and Alexandra Greek were supposed to fly to the Florida Keys for a family vacation, but their trip has been cut back by a day.

“We are crossing our fingers we will get out, we are supposed to be there now,” says Greek.

This is their first trip as a family of four with their little ones and they are just trying to make the best of the situation. They had difficulty with the airline even finding their flight so decided to take a three-hour Tim Hortons trip with their kids in the meantime.

“I think we are just rolling with the punches, had you seen our hotel this morning it was a bit of a disaster everyone is stir-crazy, we are glad we got here early everyone is anxious that for sure,” adds Greek.

For others like Peter Carss and his family who are trying to get to Ottawa, their flight was cancelled Monday night and rescheduled about 24 hours later.

“We were rescheduled to tonight at eight o’clock but had to get out of the hotel,” says Carss.

Brenton Macdonald is from Seattle, and he was visiting family in Cape Breton with his two daughters Sophia and Katherine. They weren’t too upset about a flight change, as he and his wife have flexible work schedules and it gives his girls a chance to experience more.

“We are just embracing the situation and loving Nova Scotia. We are taking advantage of the opportunity to visit more of Halifax,” says Brenton.

“We were rescheduled tonight but had to get out of the hotel,” says Katherine.

Despite all the shopping and playing in the hotel pool, Sophia is ready to go home.

“I am having fun here but ready to go home,” says Sophia.

Mia Logan from Halifax was one of the lucky ones who got a heads up from the airline that the weather could impact her travel plans. She was grateful because in the end her original flight was cancelled.

“I got a notice from there two days earlier that it was going to be likely that my flight was going to be cancelled or the weather was going to disrupt it so I could take vouchers or switch it so I did the same time flight but a day earlier,” says Logan.

Some airlines added more flights to help with the backlog but there are still several people waiting for their flights or waiting our delays from others.

For the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, safety is their main priority and weather events such as the one Monday meant safety measures had to be taken and will anytime there is an event like this one.

“Typically, when we see the airfield close when we see a significant amount of snow in a short amount of time or a freezing rain event such as the one we had so much ice buildup on the runway or a significant amount of snow that we aren’t simply able to keep up with,” adds Chase.

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