Canadian air force mobilized to help stranded Air India passengers
Flight 127 grounded Tuesday due to ‘bomb threat,’ Defence Minister Bill Blair says
A Royal Canadian Air Force jet waits at the Iqaluit runway Tuesday night. Three federal cabinet ministers say the Canadian government mobilized Canadian Forces resources to help stranded Air India passengers whose flight from New Delhi to Chicago made an emergency landing in Iqaluit because of a “bomb threat.” (Photo by Frank Reardon, special to Nunatsiaq News)
The Canadian government called in the air force to help Air India passengers who were stranded in Iqaluit Tuesday when their Chicago-bound plane made an emergency landing because of what federal cabinet ministers said was a “bomb threat.”
Federal cabinet ministers, including Defence Minister Bill Blair posted messages on social media platform X announcing the Canadian Forces had been mobilized to help passengers continue to their destination.
“With passengers from Air India Flight 127 stranded in Iqaluit, after an emergency landing due to a bomb threat, we have approved a request to have the Canadian Forces provide an airlift to get passengers safely to their destination in Chicago,” Blair wrote on X around 9:30 p.m.
Transport Minister Anita Anand and Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan also posted messages echoing the government’s plan to deploy Canadian Forces resources to help the stranded passengers.
Blair, Anand and Sajjan said a “bomb threat” was the reason Flight 127 was diverted to Iqaluit. The flight began in New Delhi, India’s capital, and was bound for Chicago.
Sajjan’s tweet said 211 passengers and crew were stranded in Iqaluit and the airline hadn’t found a solution. The city of Iqaluit is “not equipped to house these passengers,” he wrote. That’s why he approved the Canadian Forces mission to “to ease the pressure on Iqaluit and send passengers safely to their destination in Chicago.”
Earlier on Tuesday, an Air India statement referred to an unspecified “security threat” as the reason the flight landed in Iqaluit as a “precautionary measure.”
A Royal Canadian Air Force jet was on the ground in Iqaluit around 10 p.m. — nearly 17 hours after Air India Flight 127 landed in Iqaluit at 5:21 a.m. Tuesday.
There was no official word on when the Air India passengers, who spent the day inside the Iqaluit airport, would get on board the Canadian Forces plane and resume their trip to Chicago.
with all the hulabaloo with India and canada right now, i hope india is footing the bill for this “charter”. how much is it going to cost the taxpayers?
TreuNo
That depends entire on if you imagine that the massive number of Khalistanis we’ve imported over the last five years are ‘taxpayers’.
But, then again, who is surprised that after a diplomatic spat between India, and the country that’s essentially harboring and funding terrorist groups (that’s us, folks), there isn’t a little friction?
People forget that until 9/11, the worst act of airline terrorism was the Air India bombing, committed by…you guessed it, Canadian Khalistanis.
Every other time something like this happens, the airline affected has chartered a jet (or two) to come and pick them up and carry them onward to their destination.. Why not in this case?