SkyGreece Airlines temporarily ceased its operations Thursday, after days of media reports of delayed and cancelled flights to and from Pearson International Airport.

The airline, which only began commercial flights in 2014, cancelled three flights to and from Pearson International Airport Wednesday and Thursday, only a week after the airline was reportedly forced to delay all flights between Aug. 17 and 20.

Toronto media published a news release from the airline Thursday, stating that the temporary service suspension was prompted by financial setbacks the company faced as a result of the recent Greek economic crisis.

“In spite of the resulting immediate and dramatic reduction in ticket sales, the Company’s founders have worked tirelessly to maintain scheduled service,” it reads. “Unfortunately, as a result of recent technical issues, the Company is now facing a system-wide multi-day delay and significant additional expenses.”

The statement did not detail what technical issues the airline has been facing. It said only that the airline expects to resume its operations “soon.” The airline is encouraging stranded passengers to contact their travel agent to make alternate aarrangements.

Pearson airport’s Twitter account confirmed the airline’s grounding late Thursday. Shabeen Hanifa, a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said earlier that the company’s plane was still at Pearson, adding that after the airport was notified that Wednesday and Thursday’s flights would not be taking off, Pearson has had no contact with SkyGreece.

SkyGreece’s social media appears to have been removed, with its Facebook page vanished and no tweets on the company’s Twitter account. Its website allows booking to or from two Greek cities as well as Budapest, Montreal, Toronto, New York’s JFK airport and Zagreb.

A large number of aggrieved passengers have taken to social media to share their stories, with a Facebook group called SkyGreece Troubles emerging with around 600 members so far. Alex Repka, a member of the Facebook group, said he was forced to shell out extra cash last week when his flight back to Toronto from Budapest was cancelled.

He travelled to Budapest and rented a car to go to Slovakia to see family he hasn’t seen in six years. The flight to his hometown was delayed over two hours, but his flight back was even worse, he told the Star: “I was notified 24 hours prior to my original return flight via email that the flight would be delayed by 24 hours and that all flights would resume schedule after that.”

However, he said, they didn’t resume. On August 22, Repka was left stranded. “When I had arrived and walked to their counter, there was nobody there, just a sheet of paper stating the numbers that I could call to figure something out,” he said.

There was no answer when he called any of the numbers.

Repka couldn’t find another same-day flight and was forced to book a hotel room and another flight back.

He faxed an official complaint to SkyGreece, but has not heard back since. “Too many passengers were left in the dark,” Repka said.

Annie Picard, a travel blogger, had a Sept. 19 flight from Montreal to Athens booked with the airline. She told the Star she has spent the last two days in limbo, wondering whether her flight would go ahead. She called SkyGreece’s offices and got no response.

Travel always has surprises, she said, “but this lack of communication — the company not answering the phone, it’s the first time I’ve experienced that type of situation.”

She said despite the ongoing confusion, she was glad to see the airline’s news release Thursday.

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“Now that there’s an official statement, it may be easier to deal with travel insurance,” she said.

With files from Riannon Westall

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