Air Canada reported a technical issue with its flight communications system on Thursday, causing delays across the country .
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, the Montreal-based company said it was experiencing a 鈥渢emporary technical issue鈥 with the system it uses to communicate with aircraft and monitor the performance of its operations.
By Thursday afternoon, the airline said the system had 鈥渂egun to stabilize,鈥 though flights were expected to be impacted for the remainder of the day.
鈥淭he communicator system has begun to stabilize, and aircraft continue to move although still at a lower than normal rate. As a result, customers may experience delays and in some instances cancellations as we move through recovery,鈥 Air Canada said.
鈥淐ustomers are advised to check the status of their flight before going to the airport as we anticipate the impact will persist through the balance of the day.鈥
As a result of the system failure, the airline said it implemented a 鈥渇lexible policy,鈥 allowing customers who wished to change their travel plans to do so at no cost.
Speaking to reporters before question period, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the federal government has been in touch with Air Canada and is encouraging the airline to get its communications system back up and running 鈥渁s quickly as possible.鈥
鈥淭hey understand the consequences of these delays and we鈥檒l keep following up on the situation,鈥 said Alghabra.
The system failure caused delays for the majority of flights scheduled to depart from the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport on Thursday morning, said Michel Rosset, communications manager for the Winnipeg Airports Authority.
Some Air Canada flights in the afternoon and evening were scheduled to run on time at the Winnipeg airport, but Rosset advised passengers to look online for updated flight information as that could change.
鈥淲ith flights, even on a good day, things could change pretty quickly. So I'd recommend, if you're looking for updated (flight information) throughout the day, the best bet is just to head to our website,鈥 he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
Leah Batstone, communications and marketing advisor for the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, said the Halifax airport was aware of the 鈥淚T issue鈥 that Air Canada was experiencing and recommended passengers to keep tabs on their flight status.
鈥淎s always, travellers are advised to check their flight status directly with their airline before coming to the airport,鈥 Batstone said in an emailed statement to CTVNews.ca.
Air Canada was forced to ground its planes last week due to a similar problem with its communications system, which delayed nearly half its flights.
The airline said the issue it experienced this Thursday was in the 鈥渟ame systems as that of May 25, but it was unrelated.鈥
鈥淲e have been in the process of upgrading this system using a third-party supplier鈥檚 technology. Air Canada will continue to work with the manufacturer to ensure stability in the system in the future,鈥 it said.
鈥淲e apologize for the impact on our customers and appreciate their patience. We are working hard to get people on their way as soon as possible.鈥