Yyz Gong Show

[DEFCON]

Jet Blue had the right idea.

[conehead]

Yeah, they simply shut down, right?

[DEFCON]

Exactly Conehead. The snow / ice gong shows have been going on for many decades now, and not just at Pearson. I think it' a given; the air carriers lose big financially during these periods and all the games of musical planes, gates and airports do little to impress the travelling public. Nevertheless, the powers-to-be remain bound & bent attempting to prove that air operations can continue regardless of natural forces. Jet Blue appears to have taken a sensible approach to managing the problem and it's shareholders may be very appreciative. Perhaps it's this kind of management thinking that actually does deserve a bonus?

[Mizar]

Like Canada Post, the government sees AC employees as being essential enough to legislate back to work, but disposable enough to rape through imposed contracts.

Hey De-Icer,

You never told us if you were working that night. A first hand account would be great on what it really was like and how things went down. It looks like you have company backing based on this CBC report.

"Air Canada is defending a disruptive shutdown last week at Toronto's Pearson Airport due to a deep-freeze that swept much of the continent.

Chief financial officer Michael Rousseau told an analyst conference Thursday that the airline stopped flights into Canada's busiest airport because the ground was like a skating rink caused by flash freezing as temperatures quickly dropped well below zero following a rain storm.

It also supported a rare "ground stop" that was subsequently issued by Pearson's operator, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority.

With flights backed up, Rousseau said Air Canada decided to stop flying into Toronto to avoid leaving passengers stranded on the tarmac for four or five hours.

A review of that decision is underway, but Rousseau said the big question is why there was so much ice on the tarmac that a typical 20-minute airplane towing took 90 minutes.

WestJet Airlines (TSX:WJA) also said it supports the GTAA's "unprecedented" decision that has drawn scrutiny by the federal government.

The decision to halt all North American flights for more than eight hours after temperatures plummeted to -40C with the wind chill stranded thousands of passengers.

WestJet CFO Vito Culmone told the AltaCorp Capital conference that safety is the top priority and the Calgary-based airline vowed to work with other airlines and the airport operator on improvements.

On Wednesday, WestJet issued a news release saying it supports the review by an ad hoc committee of the GTAA board of directors.

Both carriers flew in additional planes to ease the backlog caused by the delays, which WestJet says affected some 22,000 of its passengers travelling to or from the airport.

Air Canada added roughly 5,000 more seats in the following days, while WestJet chartered a Boeing 747 jumbo jet and another plane to transport nearly 500 WestJet customers and 1,000 bags to Calgary.

The airport chairman apologized Wednesday for the disruptions.

Vijay Kanwar says the ground stop was instituted for the safety of employees, passengers and the public and was carefully considered and reviewed with the GTAA's partners."

[Lakelad]

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Toronto Pearson January 2014 Operations Disruption:
Review and Recommendations

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[Guest longtimer]

You will likely want to just skip to page 21 and read the recommendations.......