Fog over Yellowknife caused the cancellation of many flights on Friday, extending a run of days where the weather refused to cooperate with the NWT’s airlines.
At least three Canadian North flights to the territorial capital on Friday were cancelled with other delayed for hours. WestJet and Air Canada similarly reported disruption.
Air Tindi, which uses Yellowknife as a hub for services to the NWT’s smaller communities, said about 85 percent of its flights had either been cancelled or rescheduled.
“It’s been multiple days,” said Chris Reynolds, Air Tindi’s president.
Reynolds pointed to the unusually warm weather across most of the territory this week, where temperatures have been more than 10C warmer than the seasonal average in places.
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“Any time the weather is setting records for temperatures in the winter, particularly after November 1, there’s going to be some fog, low cloud and precipitation – freezing precipitation, frequently – at the same time. Unseasonably warm weather is never good for flying,” he told Cabin Radio.
Reynolds said his airline had been “trying to get into Wrigley for about six days in a row.” The Dehcho community is similarly dealing with low cloud.
He described circumstances where, for days on end, air crews find that either the weather at their departure airport or their destination is too foggy. “Then you have to have an alternate [airport at which] the weather holds, too. So it’s been a mess,” he said.
Yellowknife, as a larger airport, is better equipped to help aircraft get in and out, Reynolds added.
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“The small communities aren’t as lucky for that, so yeah, there’s lots of impact,” he said.
“Cold and clear is how we like it.”
Reynolds said he isn’t sure when this weather pattern will break so flights can resume uninterrupted.
All Friday, he said, the forecast had suggested Yellowknife’s fog would lift. It never did.
When normal service does resume, Air Tindi says this kind of backlog usually takes up to three or four days to clear.
NWT residents hit by US ground stop
Meanwhile, some of the territory’s residents were affected by a separate aviation incident in the United States on Friday.
US administrators issued what is known as a “ground stop” across the nation – reportedly only the second since September 11, 2001 – following communication difficulties at control towers nationwide.
Among other affected passengers, multiple Yellowknifers reported being stranded at the end of a Las Vegas trip.
At the time of writing, there was no indication of when the US ground stop – which affects thousands of flights – would be lifted.
Airports in Canada warned of knock-on consequences and recommended that passengers check with their airline for details.
