Several WestJet aircraft grounded after ""significant"" hail damage

WestJet has cancelled flights after 22 aircraft were grounded at Calgary International Airport after a large hailstorm hit Calgary. The airline said the storm had caused ""significant damage"" to 16 of its aircraft. The airline's CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said on LinkedIn: [The aircraft] got so severely hail-damaged that they require structural repair/replacements of components and remain out of service for days, if not longer."" ""Across WestJet, teams are working to perform necessary repairs and inspections to the 16 aircraft damaged by the hailstorm that impacted Calgary on the evening of August 5, 2024,"" the airline read in a service update on August 8, 2024. Hoensbroech added: ""Unfortunately this results into further delays and cancellations in a summer that was already operationally challenged and we apologise to our guests that see their travel plans impacted (again)."" Airline operations were massively impacted after an IT outage on July 19, 2024, as a result of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike updating Windows hosts with a defected update. Hoensbroech shared on LinkedIn images of golf ball-sized hail that rocked the region as well as the wing of an aircraft dotted with dents. The airline has cancelled nearly 300 flights since the storm with the most cancellations occurring on the day after the storm with 106 cancelled flights. The day after it levelled out to 86 cancellations. The airline recorded 47 cancellations on August 8 and predicts 45 cancellations for August 9. The airline has launched flexible change and cancel guidelines for travel between August 5 and August 8. Its CEO clarified that no WestJet employees were injured.