PM’s plane broke down in Jamaica during family vacation, requiring 2nd aircraft
globalnews.caJustin Trudeau to Jamaica for a family vacation had a maintenance issue prior to his planned return to Canada this week, prompting a second plane to be flown to the Caribbean island, the Department of National Defence (DND) said Friday.A spokesperson for the department told Global News the issue with the CC-144 Challenger aircraft was discovered during an inspection on Tuesday.A second Challenger carrying a maintenance team was then dispatched to Jamaica on Wednesday and “returned the (original) aircraft to serviceability,” the spokesperson, Andrée-Anne Poulin, said.“The (second) aircraft remained in the area as a back-up if necessary, and the Prime Minister was able to return on the original aircraft” on Thursday, Poulin said.The department did not say what the specific mechanical issue was.The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the problem with the plane, referring questions to DND.The CC-144 Challenger planes were brought into service this fall to replace the military’s aging CC-150 Polaris fleet, which had been used since the 1990s. For decades, one of those Polaris aircraft was dedicated to transporting prime ministers and Canadian delegations, but was plagued with problems in recent years.In September, Trudeau was forced to spend an extra two days in New Delhi, where he had travelled for the G20 leaders’ summit, after the Polaris was grounded over a technical issue discovered during pre-flight checks.
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