Canada’s Department of Transport has confirmed that a flight from Russian airline Aeroflot entered Canadian airspace on Sunday evening, violating the ban imposed by Canada in the morning of the same day. An investigation has been launched.
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“Last night, Aeroflot Flight 111 violated the ban on Russian aircraft operating in Canadian airspace,” said Valerie Glazer, spokeswoman for the Department of Transport.
“Transport Canada has initiated a review of the conduct of Aeroflot and the air navigation service provider that led to this violation. We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement and other measures to prevent future violations,” she added.
Minister Omar Alghabra met earlier Monday with the CEO of Nav Canada, a company responsible for providing security screening of Canadian airspace.
The organization explained, in a press release, that the Russian flight took off from Miami and headed for Canada.
“The pilot was advised that he was prohibited by NOTAM from entering Canadian airspace. The pilot said he was aware of the NOTAM, but nevertheless affirmed his intention to enter Canadian airspace, declaring the status of humanitarian flight, ”reported Nav Canada.
“NAV CANADA does not have the power to deny access to airspace to an aircraft which has declared itself a humanitarian flight”, continued the organization, indicating that it had no choice but to ” take your word for it” the pilot’s statement.
“From then on, NAV CANADA’s priority was to ensure the safety of aircraft in the area and to maintain good separation between all aircraft until the flight in question left the airspace, and that is what happened,” the company added.
Two other Russian planes taking off from the United States also later attempted to enter Canadian airspace using the same subterfuge, before being ordered to circumvent Canadian skies.
Canada closed its airspace to Russian aircraft along with a host of European countries.
The United States, which is still resisting the idea of closing its airspace to Russians, has urged Americans living in Russia to leave the country as soon as possible, before the bans continue to grow.
