Toronto airport hit by Europe weather woes

Lineups were growing at Toronto's Pearson airport again Monday as travellers arrived at Canada's busiest airport hoping to board flights to Europe.

But a wintry blast of snow across parts of Europe has caused havoc and frustration for travellers in Europe as well as Canada.

Almost 70 flights have been cancelled from the Toronto airport over the past day and a half, including an 8:15 a.m. ET Air Canada flight to London's Heathrow Airport.

Many more flights from Ottawa and Montreal have also been delayed.

Shamila Arshad has been waiting to get on a flight to Saudi Arabia via England for three days. Her visa expires tomorrow, so she's hoping that she'll get on a flight in Toronto today.

"I'm really frustrated. I'm so tired as well," she told CBC News. "Hopefully it's going to work out today."

Air Canadasaid it is only able to operate one-third of its normal schedule due to restrictions at Heathrow, which amounts to a combination of six take-offs and landings Monday. The airline said it would be using those flights primarily to return aircraft to Canada from London as well as moving to London one aircraft and passengers who were diverted to Dublin.

It expects five departures from London on Monday, including two to Toronto and one each to Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver.

Air Canada said it is awaiting information from Heathrow before determining which flights from Canada will operate to London onMonday evening.

The airline is telling all of its Europe-bound passengers to call ahead for updates and is also asking them to be patient.

Air Canada warns that all flights connecting in Europe could be affected over the next few days. It is asking passengers to postpone non-essential travel. Change and cancellation fees are being waived for routes that are affected.

"We are advising passengers to be patient. During this time of the year the flights that are being operated are already extremely full because of Christmas holiday peak travel period and so our ability to redirect customers on these flights is limited," said Duncan Dee, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Air Canada.

"In addition, ability to operate additional flights to London is also impacted by the limited number of slots that London airport has available."

London's Heathrow Airport has cancelled all of its arrivals Monday because of snow buildup on runways. Flights in and out of Charles De Gaulle airportin Paris are down by more than 40 per cent, as they are in Frankfurt.