The departure of Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, from New Delhi is experiencing additional delays as a replacement aircraft, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CC-150 Polaris, originally scheduled to arrive on Monday night, has encountered an unscheduled diversion.
Trudeau and his delegation have been stranded in Delhi since they arrived for the G20 Summit on September 8. They were supposed to fly back home two days later. But a snag in his Airbus plane forced Trudeau to prolong his stay in Delhi.
In a statement sent to the BBC, Canada’s Department of National Defence confirmed that the first aircraft – a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CC-150 Polaris with the tail number ’01’ – suffered a “maintenance problem” stemming from a “component that will have to be replaced”.
“The safety of all passengers is critical to the RCAF and pre-flight safety checks are a regular part of all our flight protocols,” the statement added. “The discovery of this issue is evidence that these protocols are effective”.
A replacement aircraft dispatched to India to retrieve Mr Trudeau was reportedly diverted to the UK, and is expected to depart from there on Tuesday.
While the defence department’s statement confirmed a second aircraft had been dispatched to bring Trudeau home, it did not comment on the location of the aircraft or on expected timelines for his return to Canada.
The incident is not the first time that Trudeau has had plane-related travel issues.
Now according to reports, backup Royal Canadian Air Force’s CC-150 Polaris en route to New Delhi was diverted from London though it was supposed to be routed through Rome. No specific reason was given for the diversion.