More delays and cancellations to and from Toronto Pearson airport continue on Wednesday amid a backlog from the Delta plane crash and two major winter storms.
On Wednesday morning, Pearson’s arrival and departure boards show an overwhelming number of flights are delayed, with some even cancelled.
The backlog comes after two consecutive winter storms hit the Toronto region on Thursday and Sunday, bringing a combined total snowfall amount to around 50 cm.
Then, on Monday afternoon, Delta Air Lines flight 4819 travelling from Minneapolis to Toronto crash landed on the runway at Pearson, causing the aircraft to flip upside-down on its roof and catch on fire.
There were no fatalities, however, 21 people, including a child, were taken to hospital from the crash. As of Tuesday morning, 19 of them were released and two remain hospitalized. Twenty-two of the 76 passengers were Canadian; the rest were multinational.
Video posted online showed passengers self-evacuating from the plane, walking onto a snowy tarmac.
Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Tuesday they’ve recovered the plane’s black box and sent it off for analysis, but it’s too soon to say what led to the crash.
Airport authorities said the wreckage of the aircraft was expected to remain on the runway for about 48 hours until the investigators finish their work.
In a post to social media, the airport said it continued to see delays and cancellations on Wednesday among the 950 flights scheduled to arrive and depart. It said five per cent of departing flights and six per cent of arriving flights had been cancelled as of 7 a.m., but did not mention the percentage of flights that are delayed.
Deborah Flint, president and CEO of Pearson, spoke at a press conference on Tuesday and said the backlog comes after 221 flights were cancelled on Thursday, 75 on Friday, another 937 flights cancelled on Saturday, and 371 more flights cancelled on Sunday. Monday was supposed to be an operational recovery day for Pearson airport but due in part to the accident, another 462 flights were cancelled.
Pearson is also without its longest east-west and north-south runways as the investigation into the crash continues.
Passengers try to navigate delays, cancellations
One woman at the Toronto Pearson airport said she was schedule to fly from Toronto to Honduras on Sunday but her flight was cancelled because of weather.
It was then rescheduled for Tuesday, but she said the flight did not come in on time. She then had a scheduled connection through Edmonton on Wednesday morning at 7:40 a.m. but was notified at 1 a.m. that was cancelled.
She said she is now scheduled to leave Thursday at 3 p.m., four days after the initial flight date and time.
“We tried our best to get a connection sooner, whether it was going to Calgary or Edmonton on a different flight, but everything was just booked solid,” she said.
“Things happen. You just have to make the best of it and take it as an adventure.”
Another woman, Gabriela Zlatanovic, said she arrived at the airport from Peterborough and is hopeful her flight will take off.
“The weather is clear, so I am keeping my fingers crossed,” Zlatanovic said.
Simona Novielli said she is heading to New York City with the flight scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and the flight was pushed back to 11:15 a.m.
“Not too bad, but still worried its going to be more (delayed),” Novielli said.
“We were looking at the flights and a lot of them to New York yesterday got cancelled so I was calling, but they didn’t really have an answer. But hoping for the best,” she continued.
— With files from Global News’ Megan King and The Canadian Press