Bad weather and mechanical delays have led to long delays for travellers at Perimeter Aviation.
Thunder Rae came to the airport with his sister on Tuesday hoping to fly back to his home in Sandy Lake, Ontario. Instead, bad weather forced Perimeter to cancel the flight.
When they came back the next day, they said they ended up waiting at the airport for eight hours. They were told not to leave the terminal in case another plane could be arranged, but were never able to get on a flight.
They were back at the airport on Friday, but again, there was no flight home.
“I’m getting sick of it,” Rae said.
Rae came to Winnipeg because of a medical appointment and is staying with his older sister, Angel Kakekagumick. He said he uses Perimeter regularly to fly to the city for appointments.
The delays have been taxing, both physically and emotionally.
“He wanted to cry a couple times because he misses my grandma back home,” said Kakekagumick. “We were starting to shake just from how sore we are. I have back problems too and I can’t sit around for that long.”
The company released a statement saying that poor weather caused some cancellations in recent days. “During this period, Perimeter voluntarily conducted thorough inspections on our fleet. Unfortunately these inspections have taken longer than initially anticipated and all company personnel are working diligently to make resources available as quickly as possible,” said president and CEO Nick Vodden in a news release.
The company said it is trying to make arrangements with partner airlines to help. “We appreciate everybody’s patience during these matters, we are doing everything in our powers and exhausting all resources to expediently minimize the impact to our customers.”
Transport Canada said it a statement to CTV news that it “has not suspended Perimeter Aviation’s Air Operator Certificate, which means the company can continue to offer commercial air service.”
Editor’s Note: The story initially wrote Sandy Lake, Manitoba. However, it has since been corrected to Sandy Lake, Ontario.
