3rd WestJet flight threat under investigation
The investigation continues into bomb threats made against three recent WestJet flights.
The most recent threat was made Tuesday night against Flight 323 from Toronto to Saskatoon. It landed safely at John Diefenbaker airport and all 113 passengers and five crew members were able to leave the aircraft safely using the stairs.
"As you start to sit there and think you think, 'okay, this is actually kind of scary,'" said passenger Depesh Parmar.
"We were at the back of the plane, so we're evacuating one by one and at that time I wished we were at the front of the plane so I could get off right away."
No bomb was found on the plane.
On Saturday, a flight from Halifax to Edmonton was diverted to Saskatoon after receiving a bomb threat. No explosives were found that time either, but the incident created flight delays in Saskatoon.
And six passengers were injured during an emergency evacuation of a WestJet flight in Winnipeg on Monday. The Boeing 737-700 was about an hour and a half into its flight from Edmonton to Toronto when it made its emergency landing after an unspecified threat.
Airline analyst Peter Wallis says such threats are costly for the industry.
"Being asked to deplane through the emergency exits is very stressful and this is the sort of customer experience you really want to avoid at all costs," he said.
WestJet says it cannot comment on the threats as they are part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
