Passengers at YYC Calgary International Airport faced delays and cancellations due to weather issues on Friday.
More than 85 flights were impacted, both domestic and international.
READ MORE: Calgary expecting longest cold spell since March 2017
Several oilsands workers heading up to the Suncor plant spent several hours at the terminal waiting to head up to Fort McMurray.
“Got an email saying our flight had been cancelled, go the WestJet counter, they said we would be rebooked,” Chris Caldwell told Global News. “Went over to get rebooked, got put on the next flight up to Edmonton, went out for a smoke, came back in and the flight had been cancelled again. Went through security, they told me I had to go see WestJet and get rebooked, so we now got a charter flight leaving out of Edmonton heading up to Suncor.”
A spokesperson with the Calgary Airport Authority said numerous planes needed de-icing due to the snow and freezing temperatures, but there were issues with some of the de-icing equipment.
“Some of the trucks…there were a couple of them that were mechanical and they had some issues,” Sarah Urbanowski said. “So that did result in some additional delays.”
For travellers arriving at YYC from hot-spot vacations, the temperature change in Calgary was quite a shock.
Levi Todd, decked out in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals, had just flown in from Salt Lake City.
“It was about 15 C there…and like – 15 C plus windchill here.”
He was prepared for the drastic temperature change by packing a winter coat in his carry-on luggage.
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