Pearson Airport labour dispute leads to problems at YYC
Posted Jul 3, 2015 5:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Friday morning labour dispute at Pearson International Airport is having a domino effect across the country including here in Calgary.
Many workers facing job losses because of the expiration of a fueling contract later this year did not go into work Friday, leading to cancellations and delays.
Those spilled over to Calgary, where there have been over a dozen cancellations and multiple delays including flights to Ontario, B.C. and Alberta.
WestJet spokesperson Robert Palmer said his airline alone has had over two dozen cancellations and delays of up to two hours.
“You may be traveling from Vancouver to Calgary, but earlier on in the day the aircraft that you were going to fly on may have touched Toronto and so if it was delayed in Toronto, then that can have a cascading effect down the line,” he said, adding contingency plans are in place.
“We are doing our best to source fuel from other places, we are doing what’s called tech stops, which is refueling stops in cities other than Toronto so that we try to avoid the problem in entirely,” he said.
Palmer added however it is a difficult situation.
“It is awkward and we certainly apologize to our guests for the inconvenience but right now the way things are, the situation is very dynamic, it’s changing hourly,” he said.
For the latest information on flights, visit www.yyc.com
