A communications outage affecting U.S. air traffic control has halted departing flights across the United States and is causing delays and cancellations at Canadian airports.
Vancouver International Airport said Friday that U.S.-bound departures and some international flights that would cross U.S. airspace are delayed. Flights within Canada are not affected, the airport said.
YVR recommended travellers check their flight status with their airline or at yvr.ca before coming to the airport.
Flight-tracking website Flight Radar 24 was showing 176 cancelled or delayed flights at YVR as of Friday afternoon, and dozens more at major airports in Victoria, Kelowna and Cranbrook.
Air Canada said flights to and from the Caribbean and South American may also be impacted. It said flights that were already in progress have so far been allowed to continue their journeys.
WestJet said in a statement that call centre wait times would be longer than usual, and encouraged guests to check their flight status regularly.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced around 3:30 Friday afternoon there was a temporary communications outage, and all flights in the U.S. had been halted “out of an abundance of caution.”
Official said there are currently no signs of a cyber security incident.
