B.C. snowstorm: WestJet cancels all YVR flights from late Thursday to Friday afternoon

As the Vancouver airport braces for another blast of winter weather, WestJet has announced a rash of "proactive cancellations" beginning with flights scheduled late Thursday night.

The airline said every arrival and departure at Vancouver International Airport would be cancelled from 11:50 p.m. until late Friday afternoon, dependent on weather conditions.

Additional flights have been cancelled at Victoria International Airport, Abbotsford International Airport, Nanaimo Airport and Comox Airport, WestJet said in an email statement.

"The proactive cancellations will impact 126 flights across the five airports and were made in consultation with airport authorities," the statement said. "All impacted guests have been notified."

Earlier in the day, a Vancouver airport spokesperson confirmed 766 flights have been cancelled since the last snowstorm hit, affecting about 90,000 passengers.

There were 115 flights cancelled Thursday alone.

The cancellations have left some passengers stranded at YVR for days, including Karen Fernandez, who said she has reached her breaking point.

“We’re running out of money for food and I’m running out of patience," Fernandez said.

She and her grandson are trying to get back home to Arkansas.

“I want to be at home with my grandkids for Christmas. I’ve never missed a Christmas with them,” she said, fighting back tears.

YVR is still trying to clear the backlog from the storm that slammed the South Coast earlier this week, an effort that included restricting international arrivals until early Friday morning.

Tamara Vrooman, the president and CEO of the airport, said limiting the arrivals of international flights affected the travel plans of about 6,000 passengers.

“That’s a very difficult decision, but it allowed the majority of passengers – about 120,000 – to access their flights,” she said.

Vrooman described the weather situation as “unprecedented,” and said even though the runways were plowed, the biggest problem was snow accumulating too quickly on aircraft.

“By the time we de-iced it, it built up again and we had to de-ice over and over again,” she said.

That left some passengers waiting in planes on the tarmac for hours on end – a situation Vrooman called "totally unacceptable," and assured would not happen again.

“We’ve made an adjustment here to ensure through the next snow event we have no gate holds," she said.

On Thursday afternoon, the airport said an average of 28 aircraft were being de-iced every hour.

Officials also said staff had distributed 5,000 water bottles, 5,000 snacks such as apples and oranges, and thousands of blankets and handwarmers to stranded passengers impacted by flight cancellations since Tuesday.

With much more snow in the forecast over the coming days, YVR has warned travellers to expect additional delays and cancellations.