MONTREAL, Jan. 7, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada is advising customers that severe winter conditions in eastern Canada and the U.S. northeast continue to impact its operations, resulting in cancelled and delayed flights to and from: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and U.S. northeast airports. Customers are advised to check on-line at www.aircanada.com for Travel Advisories and also to confirm that their flight is operating before going to the airport.

"The severe winter weather over the past days continues to impact airport operations resulting in a reduced flight schedule, primarily for domestic Canada and U.S. transborder flights to and from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and the U.S. northeast," said Klaus Goersch, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.  "Air Canada is doing its utmost to get its customers to their destinations safely and as quickly as possible as we work to stabilize operations at affected airports before resuming a regular schedule over the coming days. To avoid lengthy call centre wait times and before going to the airport, customers should continue to consult their flight information regularly online and rebook using our self-service rebooking tool at aircanada.com, as the regular schedule gradually resumes once airport operations have stabilized.  We thank our customers for their patience and will continue to provide the latest information for them on aircanada.com."

Customers traveling are advised to take the following steps:

Before your flight

• Check our Travel Advisories.
• Within 24 hours of your flight, save time by checking in online or with your mobile device
• Confirm your flight's status before going to the airport.
  

If your flight is cancelled

• Do not go to the airport unless you have a confirmed ticket on another flight.
• Do not go to the airport to rebook your flight as you may encounter lengthy line-ups and wait-times. Instead, use our Self-Service Rebooking Tool to make alternate arrangements using your booking reference number and passenger name. Call centres are also available, but wait-times can be long during storms.

Please be patient

• Immediately after a storm it takes time to resume normal operations. If required, we will add extra capacity when aircraft and crew are available to clear the backlog of affected customers.
• If a suitable flight is not immediately available, check back frequently because our schedule may change and capacity may be added.
  

For more information about the impact of winter storms please go to:
http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/facts/winter_readiness.html

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 175 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 67 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,328 destinations in 195 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.

SOURCE Air Canada