An Air France flight bound for Paris was diverted to Montreal last night after an anonymous threat was received, airport officials confirmed.
Flight 083 from San Francisco made an unscheduled stop in Montreal just after 11:20 p.m. ET, said Francois Asselin, a spokesman for Aéroports de Montreal.
Air France confirmed around 4:45 a.m. that the threat was a false alarm.
The plane left for Paris around 6 a.m.
“We were told we had to be diverted for operational reasons by the captain,” passenger Thomas Serval told CBC News. “We were anxious when we landed safely.”
The Boeing 777-300ER was carrying 231 passengers and 15 staff members. The pilot decided to land in Montreal out of precaution, and the plane stayed on the tarmac for some time with passengers on board.
Police and firefighters were called to the scene at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, according to standard procedure.
Gilles Raymond told The Associated Press that he and his fellow passengers spent at least an hour on the plane during verifications after being originally told the diversion was for “technical reasons.”
“Everyone is pretty relaxed,” Raymond said while still inside. “There was no panic, no stress. Everyone is waiting in their seats. Some people are sleeping, and some are checking their phones or eating ice cream that the flight attendants gave them.”
It is not the first time the airline’s flights have been diverted since the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and left hundreds injured.
On Nov. 17, flights bound for France were diverted to Halifax and Salt Lake City, Utah due to anonymous threats later found to be baseless after a sweep of the planes.
CBC News
Two Air France flights divert because of bomb threats
No explosives were found aboard two separate Air France planes that were diverted to Halifax and Salt Lake City due to bomb threats, according to the airline.
Authorities in both cities thoroughly inspected both aircraft, passengers and their luggage, and nothing was found, according to an Air France release.
The airline said the bomb threat that led to the diversion of Flight AF55 to Halifax Stanfield International Airport was a “false alert.”
The bomb threats were received by telephone shortly after AF55 left Washington, D.C., for Paris on Tuesday.
An investigation is underway to determine the source of that phone call, Air France says.
As well, the airline says:
– Passengers grounded in Halifax will be put on Flight AF4093 at 7 p.m. today, scheduled to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 6 a.m. local time Thursday.
– Passengers aboard the the plane that was diverted to Salt Lake City are already en route to France.
The company says the passengers in Halifax are being accommodated.
Two hundred and sixty-two passengers and crew were aboard the Boeing 777 when it landed in Halifax around 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
RCMP searched the plane using police dogs trained in explosives. Shortly after 3 a.m., no explosives were found in a search of the plane and luggage. The plane was released from police custody.
It took an hour and 15 minutes to remove passengers by buses provided by Halifax Transit.
The main runway at Halifax’s airport was reopened at 4 a.m. Wednesday and the plane has been moved to a gate.
Peter Spurway, a spokesman for Halifax Stanfield airport, had said the passengers and crew exited the plane and were taken to “a secure area in the airport terminal.”
All were interviewed by RCMP.
Spurway said the airport was trying to make passengers as comfortable as possible. Air Canada, on behalf of Air France, helped find accommodations overnight for the passengers and crew.
Spurway said the Halifax airport is prepared to deal with diversions, adding it had already handled three or four diverted flights this month.
CBC News
==
– AF65: F-HPJD (Diverted to SLC)
– AF55: F-GZNB (Diverted to YHZ)
No Jet Ops. For Billy Bishop Airport
Canada’s new transport minister took to Twitter to do an about-face on Billy Bishop City Centre Airport, announcing the Liberal government has no intention of letting passenger jets fly out of the Toronto Islands.
Marc Garneau tweeted late Thursday night that the government will not re-open an agreement that could lead to the expansion of the island airport.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa just hours earlier, Garneau appeared to contradict earlier Liberal statements — both before and after last month’s federal election — that the proposed expansion was dead.
“What I’m doing at the moment is examining all of the factors that are involved in this. It’s a complex issue,” Garneau said after a cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon.
However, the former astronaut executed a 180-degree turn later on Twitter, saying the government’s position on the issue mirrors the Liberal Party’s election campaign commitment not to re-open the file.
Garneau’s earlier comments came as a surprise to Trinity-Spadina Coun. Mike Layton, who called the transport minister’s remarks “distressing.”
“We had received one message from the Toronto [federal Liberal] caucus leading up to the election and now we’re getting a different message from the minister.”
Porter Airlines, which is based at Billy Bishop, wants to fly Bombardier CS-100 jets out of that airport. The airline has been lobbying for the reopening of the tripartite agreement between the federal government, Toronto’s port authority and the city governing what kind of aircraft can fly out of Billy Bishop.
But under the terms of the deal, if one party to the arrangement refuses to revisit it, the agreement cannot be reopened.
Earlier this year, nine Toronto Liberal candidates, including Vaughan, articulated the party’s position against re-opening the agreement.
“No Jets. No Expansion. Period,” Vaughan wrote in a September letter to a citizens’ group aimed at stopping the airport’s growth.Porter Airlines has lobbied Toronto city council since 2013 to extend the runway at Billy Bishop for the Bombardier jets, a move that would enable the airline to fly to more destinations.
Toronto city staff have been studying the proposal and were expected to report back to city council in the new year.
CBC News
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