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
Air China adds Havana tag-on to Montreal flight
Air China in late-December 2015 will begin its first service to the Caribbean as it opens reservation for planned Cuba service. From 27DEC15, existing 3 weekly Beijing – Montreal service will be extended to Havana, on board Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Reservation for this route opened on late-Thursday 15OCT15, including Montreal – Havana sector. Currently this route is only bookable in the GDS, through Air China’s inventory (direct access). With this newly-extended service, Montreal departure to Beijing will see operational day changes.
CA879 PEK1400 – 1340YUL1620 – 2015HAV 77W 257
CA880 HAV0900 – 1230YUL1430 – 1730+1PEK 77W 136
WOW Air launches Montreal and Toronto flights
An Icelandic low-cost carrier is out to create some turbulence in the Canadian market with plans to offer deeply discounted fares on transatlantic flights out of Toronto and Montreal.
WOW air, founded by serial entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, is launching two new routes from Montreal and Toronto to the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, starting at $99 one-way.
The upstart airline is the latest Europe-based company to offer low-cost fares on long-haul routes across the Atlantic as the continent’s budget carriers extend their territory outside home base.
WOW, founded by Mr. Mogensen in 2011, says it has already had success with the launch in early 2015 of transatlantic services from Boston and Washington, D.C.
There is ample room for low-cost entrants in the transatlantic space, Mr. Mogensen said in an interview Thursday.
“Transatlantic is really ruled by a handful of very large legacy carriers with their alliances and cartels,” he said. “They will will not give it up freely. They just don’t have the structure and strategies to allow them to compete against pure play, low-cost carriers.”
WOW’s flights out of Toronto’s Pearson airport and Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport are set to begin next May.
The catch is that passengers wanting to go on to other cities such as London or Paris will have to wait “about an hour” in Reykjavik and pay an additional $149 one-way for an additional flight to their final destination.
Asked about the pricing structure, Mr. Mogensen said the $99 fare “depends on the season, on the load.”
“If you’re flexible on departure dates and book in advance you should always be able to find cheap fares. $99 or below $200 should always be available in any given week,” he said.
“When we announced our U.S. routes last year, we promised that it was just the beginning of our growth into North America,” said Mr. Mogensen, who spent several years in Montreal as head of tech company OZ Communications Inc., which was eventually sold to Nokia.
“These great Canadian cities [Toronto and Montreal] will become our newest destinations but I look forward to announcing even more in the not-too-distant future.”
The Canada-to-Iceland routes will use WOW’s existing fleet of new Airbus A321s, seating 200, while A320s will serve on the flights from Reykjavik to London, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Dublin.
Both Montreal and Toronto services are to be year-round, with departures four times a week, the company said Thursday.
Passengers will be allowed one “free” carry-on bag, but it must weigh no more than 5 kilograms. There are extra fees for additional carry-ons, checked bags, in-flight meals and other items.
The Globe And Mail