Air Canada flight forced to return to Toronto after several failed landings in Newfoundland

A flight leaving Toronto was forced to return hours after it took off after “several” failed attempts to land in St. John’s,  Newfoundland.

Air Canada, the airline operating the flight, said crosswinds made it impossible for flight 698 to land in St. John’s on Feb. 5.

In a statement sent to Global News, they said the pilot made several attempts to pull off the landing, before giving up and heading all the way back to Toronto.

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“Safety is and will always be our prime consideration, this is something customers also fully agree with,” the spokesperson said.

Atlantic Canada was subject to a historic winter blast at the beginning of the month. Air Canada said the severe weather made landing at nearby airports difficult, forcing the pilot all the way back to Toronto.

“From a customer journey viewpoint, returning to our largest hub at Toronto provided us more certainty and better options for eventually flying customers to St. John’s given we have more aircraft, flight options and crew based in Toronto,” the spokesperson said.