New Delhi:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffered a minor setback during his recent visit to the Caribbean when a plane breakdown prompted the Canadian Armed Forces to send a second plane with a repair team to fix the problem.
This is the second such incident in recent times, following the delay in Trudeau's departure from India during the G20 summit in September last year. The Prime Minister, who had gone on a family vacation, found himself in a similar predicament in Jamaica.
“We can confirm that two Royal Canadian Air Force CC-144 Challengers were in Jamaica to support the transport of the Prime Minister,” a Canadian Defense Ministry spokesman said, according to Portal.
The problem was discovered on January 2, CBC News reported. Action was taken quickly and a maintenance team from the second aircraft arrived on site a day later to resolve the issue with the original aircraft.
Despite the unexpected hiccup, Trudeau managed to stick to his original travel schedule and return on January 4 without further delays. Both aircraft involved in this incident were identified as CC-144 Challenger aircraft, relatively new acquisitions of the Canadian Armed Forces.
This follows a pattern of mishaps in Trudeau's recent travel history.
Notably, in September, his departure from Delhi after the G20 summit was delayed due to an unspecified technical glitch. In 2019, during his re-election campaign, a collision between a bus carrying journalists and a plane chartered by Trudeau's Liberal Party created a chaotic scenario.
Later that year he had to switch to a replacement aircraft for a NATO summit in London after the original was damaged in a hangar accident. Unfortunately, complications arose with the replacement aircraft, so Trudeau had to opt for a third aircraft for his return journey.