CALGARY — Experts say airfares may go up in the immediate aftermath of a hailstorm that tore through Calgary on Monday evening, damaging planes at WestJet and Flair Airlines and upending travel plans for thousands of passengers. Hailstones as big as golf balls pummelled the airport tarmac, forcing both airlines to ground 10 per cent of their fleets for repairs and inspections. WestJet said it cancelled 248 flights between Monday and Wednesday, and will have to cut trips across its network for the “foreseeable future.
” The Calgary-based carrier cancelled 106 more trips on Thursday and Friday, according to tracking service FlightAware. Flair has also had to trim its schedule, while Air Canada saw a smattering of planes affected. A significant scale-back will likely boost demand at other airlines and push up ticket prices during the peak summer travel season, said Barry Prentice, who heads the University of Manitoba’s transport institute.
“This is going to have a real impact on a lot of people who are waiting for flights. You can’t take 10 per cent out of the supply of the second-largest airline in the country and not have impacts,” he said. Longer term, more violent and volatile weather patterns could boost carrier costs such as maintenance and insurance, an expense that will likely trickle down to travellers.
“Of all the transportation modes, they’re the most susceptible to weather,” Prentice said of airplanes. WestJet said it managed to move four of the 22.