FOG THICKER than seen in at least 12 years delayed several flights at the airport this week.
From Oct. 18 to 21, Air Canada cancelled five flights and diverted three.
Hawkair cancelled nine and diverted one flight, which includes the new Central Mountain Airlines flights to Calgary, which are run by Hawkair, said Kitimat-Terrace regional airport manager Carman Hendry.
Oct. 22 saw one or two delays, he added.
“I haven't seen the fog this thick in the province all at the same time in one day ever and we don't usually have fog for this length of time in Terrace,” he said, adding the fog is usually here one day and gone tomorrow.
Hendry stressed that those flights weren't all due to the weather in Terrace as the fog in Vancouver also affected many flights.
“Usually we get about three fog days a year and this is not the time of year for them,” said Hendry.
“We might get one or two around the beginning of December.”
He said the fog stretched from Seattle to Prince George during those days.
“So all airports are being affected by it in the northwest,” he said.
Planes leaving from here heading to Vancouver need to have an alternate airport which can be Penticton or Fort St. John, which did result in some passengers' bags being bumped so the planes had to be fuelled up with enough fuel to get them here plus enough to divert to those places, if needed, he said.
The normal alternate is usually Abbotsford but that was fogged in as well, he added.
A planned trip with various stops across the northwest for provincial finance minister Mike deJong earlier this month was kiboshed because of the weather.
The fog is expected to lift over the weekend, with Environment Canada issuing a statement Friday that a cold front would move the fog away from the coast.