Canadian Plane Ferries Stranded Air India Passengers From Iqaluit Airport To Chicago After Bomb Threat

The Canadian government has approved a request to fly stranded passengers of an Air India flight from Iqaluit airport to Chicago, hours after the flight was diverted to the airport due to a bomb threat.

The flight had 211 passengers, including 20 crew members. “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 @CanadianForces provide an airlift to get passengers safely to their destination in Chicago,” Canada’s former public safety minister Bill Blair said in a post on X.

Air India

In a statement on Wednesday, Air India said, passengers of flight AI127, which was diverted to Iqaluit in Canada on October 15, are on their way to their destination — Chicago. “Passengers are being ferried on a Canadian Air Force aircraft that has taken off from Iqaluit at 03:54 hrs UTC and is expected to land in Chicago at around 07:48 hrs UTC,” the airline said. The UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) of 03:54 hours was around 11.54 pm local time in Iqaluit.

The request to fly stranded passengers was approved to ease the pressure on Iqaluit as the city was not equipped to house these passengers. “Despite great efforts, the city of Iqaluit is not equipped to house these passengers,” said Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Minister of Emergency Preparedness, in a post on X.

“After consultation with Transport Minister Anita Anand and in my role as Minister of Emergency Preparedness, I have approved a request for Canadian Forces resources to ease the pressure on Iqaluit and send passengers safely to their destination in Chicago,” he added.

Threats To Blow Up

For the past several months, a group of American and Canadian citizens, primarily from separatist Sikh groups, have been openly calling for blowing up Air India flights. The United States on Tuesday said any kind of threats against commercial aviation are inappropriate as several Air India flights, including those headed to Chicago and New York, received threat of a bomb in the planes.

“Any kind of threats against commercial aviation are inappropriate and matters that are dealt with extremely seriously by our own law enforcement agencies. I would refer to those law enforcement agencies to speak about …I think it’s a matter for law enforcement agencies, predominantly the Department of Justice, to speak to as, a first instance,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.

In a statement, Air India said the other local airlines have been subject to a number of threats in recent days. “Though all have subsequently been found to be hoaxes, as a responsible airline operator all threats are taken seriously,” it said. Air India said it is extending all cooperation to the authorities in identifying the perpetrators of such threats to ensure they are held accountable for the disruption and inconvenience caused to the passengers and will consider legal action against those responsible to recover damages incurred by the airline.

(With agency inputs)