(OTTAWA) A senior Transport Canada official is accusing a Russian airliner of falsely claiming to be a humanitarian flight to circumvent a ban and enter Canadian airspace last month.
Posted at 3:30 p.m.
Aeroflot Flight 111 entered Canadian airspace on February 27 after the federal government banned all Russian planes earlier in the day in retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The House of Commons transport committee learned on Monday that the plane was registered as being on a humanitarian flight before taking off from Miami.
Such flights at the time were not covered by the Canadian ban and officials say that is why he was allowed to continue on his way to Moscow.
His department is continuing to investigate, but Nicholas Robinson, Transport Canada’s civil aviation chief, said he was “disappointed” that the Russian flight appeared to use the humanitarian designation to circumvent Canada’s flight ban.
Nav Canada vice-president Ben Girard said rules regarding Canada’s airspace ban on Russia have since been tightened to prevent similar incidents.