UPDATE: Air Canada says its systems are now back online:

 

Air Canada tells CTV News its online booking and check-in systems are back online and operations have returned to normal after computer-telecommunication issues caused delays at airports in cities across Canada and here in Winnipeg.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick didn’t say the cause behind the outage, but did say police were not involved.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this situation has caused. We appreciate our customers’ patience and we have arranged additional staffing to get our customers on their way as soon as possible,” said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada.

The airline said while issues had been resolved there will still be delays and some cancellations due to the outage.

Air Canada advises customers to check flight status before going to airport and check-in online to save time at airport.

“For customers who wish to change their travel plans, Air Canada has put in place a flexible rebooking policy to enable customers to change their flights without change fees on a space available basis,” the Air Canada statement said.

EARLIER: Air Canada is reporting a problem at its customer contact centres, preventing customers from checking in for a flight or booking a flight.

Winnipeg Airports Authority said flights have been affected so far at Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport on Monday.

Michael Badejo, spokesperson with the Winnipeg Airports Authority, said four flights have been delayed, affecting about 200 people.

He said Air Canada contacted the airport at 10 a.m. to say the problem stemmed from an IT issue.

“We don’t have a time frame as of yet,” said Badejo.

He said Air Canada assured them their teams are working around the clock to fix the problem.

Badejo said the best thing for people flying today is to contact the airline they are travelling with.

“It’s fairly unusual,” he said.

In terms of rearranging planes on tarmac the airport is prepared, and is ensuring passengers with other airlines are not affected, Badejo said

Air Canada said on its website it’s working to resolve the issue and apologizes for the inconvenience.