Whitehorse Daily Star

Weather strands Yukoners in Vancouver

Following nasty weather which hit Vancouver last weekend, Air Canada Jazz flights are again up and running.

By Whitehorse Star on November 29, 2006

Following nasty weather which hit Vancouver last weekend, Air Canada Jazz flights are again up and running.

Air Canada Jazz spokeswoman Debra Williams said this morning while cancelled flights last Sunday and Monday had left some passengers stranded in Vancouver, efforts are being made to get them to the Yukon.

Passengers on flights scheduled for Tuesday and today, she added, were able to be accommodated.

'As you know, the Vancouver weather resulted in a number of delays. Unfortunately, the Whitehorse route was also affected,' she said.

'There were cancellations Sunday and Monday but we were back to operation (Tuesday),' she said. 'We're moving passengers as best we can. We're working co-operatively with Air North as well to move passengers back and forth.'

The first flight was out Tuesday morning, she said.

Air Canada, Williams added, has two scheduled Whitehorse flights per day using 50 seat CRJs.

'As you can imagine, right now all of our flights are full,' she said. 'We're trying to accommodate delayed passengers as best we can.'

She said she was unable to confirm how many passengers had been delayed due to the weather.

Williams encouraged any Yukoners concerned about the status of their scheduled flights to visit www.aircanada.ca.

Ali Hounsell, a Vancouver Airport Authority spokeswoman, said Air Canada isn't the only airline forced to cancel or delay flights as weather at the airport has affected a number of airlines' operations.

'Saturday, the snow started in Vancouver. On Sunday and Monday, the bulk of our flights were cancelled,' Williams said.

'We had crews working 24 hours a day. (Tuesday) was better; the runways were back up and running.'

According to Environment Canada, Vancouver International Airport was hit with extreme weather last weekend. On Saturday, the airport received four cm of snow. Sunday saw the airport hit with 18.4 cm of snow, and on Monday, the airport received 6.2 cm.

Air North officials could not be reached for comment this morning.

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