Summary WestJet to continue canceling flights due to hailstorm damage on August 5th. Over 600 flights canceled and 20,000 customers affected so far. Repairing damaged aircraft will take time as specialized equipment and materials are sourced.
WestJet has provided an update on its efforts to repair more than a dozen of its aircraft damaged during a severe hailstorm earlier this month. The storm has grounded over 10% of the airline's fleet and forced the cancelation of over 600 flights since August 6th. WestJet flight cancelations to continue According to the airline, it will continue " issuing proactive cancelations for the foreseeable future " as it works to repair 16 Boeing 737 aircraft damaged during the hailstorm at Calgary International Airport (YYC) on the evening of August 5th.
As the airline's primary hub, it had a lot of aircraft stationed on the ground in Calgary at the time of the storm, leaving it more heavily affected than other Canadian carriers. Diederik Pen, President of WestJet Airlines and Chief Operating Officer of WestJet Group, commented, "Our dedicated Tech Ops teams have traveled from across our network to Calgary and Toronto, where they are working around the clock to return our fleet to its full capacity." The day after the hailstorm, WestJet canceled over 100 flights scheduled to depart or arrive in Calgary and has since averaged around 50 cancelations per day as its capacity takes a significant hit.
Overall cancelations have now exceeded 600 flights since the hailstorm, with over 20,000 customers impacted - WestJet added that it is facing "very high volumes" of customer service enquiries and will help its affected passengers to rebook on other services, or receive a refund. The airline's website lists the number of cancelations day by day, which appear to be reducing in recent days. Compared to the highs of 106 cancelations on August 6th and 86 on August 7th, this Tuesday saw 37 cancelations, followed by 27 on Wednesday.
Discover more aviation news with Simple Flying. Fix could take several weeks The airline said its aircraft suffered varying degrees of damage and continue to undergo maintenance. It added that it could be "several weeks" before the damaged planes would re-enter service as it needed to source specialized equipment and materials, on top of the repair and inspection workloads.
Aircraft are unfortunately quite vulnerable to hailstorms, particularly control surfaces, such as ailerons and elevators , and it is imperative to flight safety that they are repaired properly. As WestJet's Vice President of Technical Operations, Gandeephan Ganeshalingam, noted, "While hail may cause cosmetic issues to our cars, they typically remain functional. The same cannot be said for aircraft, particularly when it comes to flight control surfaces.
" Keeping the aircraft maintained and airworthy is the operator’s primary responsibility. WestJet said it has also recruited the help of Boeing and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) - the union which represents its maintenance team - to expedite repairs. WestJet wasn't the only airline impacted by the hailstorm - according to a CBC report, four aircraft operated by Flair Airlines and Cargojet were also damaged that evening, while Calgary's domestic terminal sustained minor damage too.
.
