Passengers pass through Calgary International Airport on Aug. 31, 2022.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
WestJet Airlines says flight delays and cancellations caused by a weekend systems outage will spill into this week, even though the problem at the data centre has been fixed.
More than 200 WestJet flights were cancelled and many were delayed on Saturday and Sunday after the Calgary-based airline’s data centre was sent offline because of a “cooling issue” that also affected communications with customers, Canada’s second-biggest airline said in a statement.
“The technology outage has been resolved and all systems are online, but we are still experiencing some instability,” Diederik Pen, WestJet’s chief operating officer, said on Sunday evening. “Unfortunately, due to the scope of yesterday’s network impact, we continue to see residual disruptions. Further delays and cancellations in the coming days will be required, as we work diligently to recover our operations.”
Airline customers who face cancellations or lengthy delays are entitled to refunds or rebooking, and compensation, according to Canadian Transportation Agency rules.
WestJet spokeswoman Morgan Bell said 16 cancellations on Monday are related to the service outage, and another 15 are because of winter weather in Western Canada, crew, safety and maintenance issues. She said overheating caused the data-centre problems. WestJet added 10 flights to recover from the cancellations, she said.
At Calgary International Airport on Monday, nine arriving WestJet flights were cancelled and 23 were delayed. Four flights in Vancouver International Airport were cancelled and several were delayed.
WestJet apologized in its statement, and asked customers to wait until 72 hours before their flight before contacting them. WestJet said it will e-mail passengers with alternate trip plans “as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist guests who are coming to our airports for reaccommodations.”