Canada PM Stuck in India: Why Trudeau's Plane Suffers Frequent Technical Snag & About 'Flying Taj Mahal' | Explained

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was stuck in New Delhi since Sunday after his plane suffered a technical snug, forcing him to stay at his room in a hotel.

The Canadian government has sent a Royal Canadian Air Force rescue plane to ferry back the prime minister who may finally fly off by Tuesday late afternoon.

“The Canadian Armed Forces continue their best efforts to get the Canadian delegation home. Their latest update shows an earliest possible departure of Tuesday late afternoon. The situation remains fluid,” Mohammed Hussain, press secretary at the Canadian Prime Minister’s office, reportedly said.

However, this isn’t the first time that the aircraft used to ferry the Canadian Prime Minister has suffered similar snag. Here is all you need to know about the plane, its history of technical snag and whether the Canadian government is planning to replace the fleet.

Trudeau’s Hard Time in New Delhi

Justin Trudeau was in New Delhi for the G20 Summit on September 9-10 where he participated in the deliberations last week. The prime minister and his delegation, scheduled to leave Delhi on Sunday, were stranded due to technical issues with their aircraft.

“The problem involves a component that will have to be replaced,” an email from DND spokesperson Andrew McKelvey stated.

As per reports, a ferry aircraft, to fly them back to Canada, was supposed to land at the Delhi airport at around 10 pm on Monday. However, Trudeau couldn’t take the flight back on Monday.

To add to his woes, Delhi has not been entirely warm towards Trudeau during the G20 Summit as Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed India’s strongest concerns to Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the anti-India activities by pro-Khalistani elements in the country.

The Indo-Canadian ties have hit a new low with the two countries having diverse opinion on the pro-Khalistani elements operating in Canada. Trudeau skipped the President’s reception for the G20 leaders and was also not present at key announcements on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

All about Trudeau’s ‘Flying Taj Mahal’

The Canadian Prime Minister’s plane that suffered the snag is a CC-150 Polaris 15001, which is also commonly referred to as CANFORCE ONE. It is one of several modified Airbus A310-300, that the country’s armed forces use for its VIPs.

The plane was ordered by Wardair in the late 1980s when five civilian Airbus A310-300 airliners were purchased by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the early 1990s as part of the Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) program.

While three of the planes were used as air-to-air refuelling tankers, the remaining two were used as transport aircraft for ferrying people, cargo and VIPs around the world.

The Airbus plane was christened the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ by the then opposition leader of Canada Jean Chrétien in the 1990s. The plane was named so after it went a lavish upgrade in the interiors by the then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Later, the Chrétien became the PM himself and used the aircraft on official trips but chose to tone down the interiors.

History of maintenance issues

This isn’t the first time that the Canadian PM had to face the embarrassing situation.

• In October 2016, the CANFORCE ONE, with Trudeau onboard, had to return to Ottawa 30 minutes after it was en route to Belgium to sign the Canada-Europe free trade deal.
• During his 2018 India trip, the aircraft developed a snag during a refuelling stop in Rome. The issue extended the fuel stop from the usual 1.5 hours to three hours.
• In October 2019, the plane rolled into a wall while being towed into a hangar sustaining “significant structural damage to the nose and right engine cowling.” The plane remained of service for 16 months.
• In the same year, another plane was used to take Trudeau to the NATO summit. However, the backup aircraft was grounded in London after it encountered problem in one of the engines.

Replacement Aircraft

A second plane was dispatched from CFB Trenton on Sunday night to retrieve Trudeau and his entourage, according to The Sun Times.

Flight trackers showed CFC4130, another CC-150 Polaris transport plane with tail number 15002, departed Trenton at around 8 pm on Sunday evening, arriving at London Stansted airport in the UK.

Will Canada Replace the Presidential Plane?

The Canadian government has purchased nine planes, some new and some used, to replace its existing fleet, a report in CBC News said.

Other reports said that the 30-year-old Airbus A310-300 planes will be replaced with the CC-330 Husky, a military version of the Airbus A330-200.

However, the plane will undergo several modifications and will not be ready to ferry the Canadian PM anytime soon.