Toronto

Irene forces more Canadian flight cancellations

Scores of flights were cancelled or delayed Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene set her sights on Canada's eastern seaboard.
Numerous Canadian flights to and from destinations like New Yorks' John F. Kennedy airport were cancelled Sunday as Hurricane Irene set her sights on the eastern seaboard. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)

Scores of flights were cancelled or delayed Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene set her sights on Canada's eastern seaboard.

More than 80 flights in and out of Canada's busiest airport were cancelled. The Greater Toronto Airport Authority, the agency that runs Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport said 82 flights, or 13.3 per cent, of its scheduled 600 flights for Sunday had been cancelled.

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Most of the flights were associated with areas in the direct line of the raging storm including New York, New Jersey, Boston and Washington.

And Air Canada, the country's dominant airlines, also warned on its website that flights to and from eastern Canada including Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton, Sydney, N.S., and St. John's could also be affected.

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Porter Airlines cancelled all Newark and Boston flights on Sunday "due to the forecasted weather conditions." It also advised passengers to check the status of flights for Moncton, N.B., Halifax and St. John's.

The flight board at Halifax Stanfield International Airport shows several cancelled flights. (CBC)

At Halifax Stanfield International Airport, the board is filling up with cancellations, mostly on flights to the eastern United States including New York, Boston, Newark and Philadelphia.

Airport spokesperson Ashley Gallant said it is too early to say how long the disruption will last.                

"It's really hard to tell how long people will have to wait to get rebooked, just because it's up to airlines whether they are going to put additional flights on or if they're going to rebook them on flights in the next few days," Grant said.