The Royal Canadian Air Pressure despatched a CC-150 Polaris to India from CFB Trenton Sunday night time to select up Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian delegation after the aircraft that took him there suffered a upkeep downside.
In keeping with an announcement from Nationwide Defence, the problem entails a component that have to be changed.
“The security of all passengers is vital to the RCAF and pre-flight security checks are an everyday a part of all of our flight protocols,” stated the assertion.
“The invention of this subject is proof that these protocols are efficient.”
The objective is a Tuesday morning (New Delhi time) departure, nonetheless, a spokesperson for the prime minister stated the state of affairs stays fluid.
The difficulty with the CC-150 Polaris was found throughout the preflight checking course of on the 36-year-old aircraft. This isn’t the primary time the growing old Polaris fleet has prompted points for Trudeau throughout his time in workplace.
An issue in October 2016 required the plane to return to Ottawa half-hour after taking off with Trudeau, who was en path to Belgium to signal the Canada-Europe free commerce deal.
A historical past of upkeep points
In October 2019, the VIP aircraft rolled right into a wall whereas being towed right into a hangar at 8 Wing Trenton, sustaining “vital structural injury to the nostril and proper engine cowling,” in keeping with the Air Pressure.
The aircraft was out of service for a number of months that yr. A backup plane was used to take Trudeau to the NATO summit in December 2019, nevertheless it was grounded in London when the Air Pressure found an issue with one of many engines.
The federal authorities has bought 9 planes, some new, and a few used, to switch its current fleet, the primary of which arrived in Ottawa on Aug. 31.
However two of the used Airbus A-330s from Kuwait Airways bought by the RCAF will not embrace the prime minister’s conventional VIP quarters till a retrofit that will not come for 2 years or extra.
New fleet of planes coming
The widebody jets will exchange RCAF’s Nineteen Eighties-era Airbus A-310s often known as the Airbus CC-150 Polaris, the growing old plane used for the prime minister’s journeys overseas and for transporting navy personnel.
Canadian crews have been coaching to fly the brand new plane in the UK since January. On common, it takes about three months of coaching for a Polaris pilot to be able to fly the brand new Airbus, in keeping with Nationwide Defence officers.
The substitute planes are anticipated to enter service someday this fall, which may also embrace offering private transport for the governor normal.
Within the meantime, the prime minister’s workplace stated Trudeau continues to work from his resort in New Delhi. It is unclear what this delay means for the prime minister’s attendance on the Liberal caucus retreat this week.
This aircraft debacle caps off a tense G20 Summit the place Western nations did not get a powerful assertion on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or to get international locations to comply with concrete targets to aggressively deal with local weather change.
The aircraft breakdown additionally comes on the heels of terse and awkward interactions between Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Authorities summaries of their sit-down assembly have been very totally different, with Canada failing to say India’s considerations in regards to the Sikh separatist motion in Canada, regardless of India’s abstract of the assembly being targeted on that subject.