Air Canada warning passengers of flight delays, cancellations after system-wide issues communicating with aircraft

Air Canada is experiencing a system-wide technical issue, causing flight delays across the country on Thursday.

The technical issue is with the system the airline uses to communicate with aircraft - the same system impacted by an outage one week ago - but was unrelated" to last week, Air Canada told the Star.

The communicator system has begun to stabilize, and aircraft continue to move although still at a lower than normal rate," Air Canada media relations said in an emailed statement.

As a result, customers may experience delays and in some instances cancellations as we move through recovery," the airline said.

The airline said it was in the process of upgrading the communicator system using technology from a third party.

Air Canada will continue to work with the manufacturer to ensure stability in the system in the future," the airline's statement continued.

It said it expects that impacts from the technical issue, including delays, will last throughout the day.

Passenger Alec Paterson said his flight to St. John's has been delayed at Pearson airport for three hours due to the technical issue, and six hours overall.

It's been going on for hours ... They just passed out a second round of pretzels," he said.

Paterson said passengers learned about the delays from their pilots, but received no updates from Air Canada by email or through their customer app.

He said the airline's recent technical problems will impact his decision to fly with them in the future.

It's pretty clear that this airline is barely functioning ... Air Canada can't seem to maintain any level of consistent service," Paterson said.

Passengers took to social media to voice their frustrations over delays, long wait times to speak to customer service agents and lack of communication from the airline.

Air Canada said it has put a flexible policy" in place for passengers who wish to change their travel plans at no cost.

We apologize for the impact on our customers and appreciate their patience," the airline said.

This is the second technical issue in a week for the airline.

Last week, the airline briefly grounded flights due to an internal system problem, delaying nearly half its flights.

This is a developing story.

With files from The Canadian Press

Marissa Birnie is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @marissabirnie