Air India travellers arrive in Chicago as RCMP investigates emergency landing in Iqaluit

Jeff Pelletier,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Following the departure overnight of nearly 200 Air India passengers, the RCMP continues to investigate the threat that forced Flight 127 to make an emergency landing in Iqaluit Tuesday.

After spending nearly 18 hours at the airport, passengers were flown out of Iqaluit just before midnight Tuesday on a Canadian Armed Forces passenger jet, according to a statement Air India posted to X.

They arrived at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, their original destination, at 3:22 a.m. Wednesday, according to Flightradar24, a site that tracks global air travel. Flight 127 originated in New Delhi, India’s capital.

National Defence Minister Bill Blair approved the airlift at the request of Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan.

Sajjan said on social media Air India had not “found a solution” to help the stranded passengers, and that Iqaluit itself was “not equipped to house” them so he requested the transport.

Both ministers described the threat as a “bomb threat.”

Air India thanked Canadian authorities for their assistance in a statement on social media but did not say whether the plane’s crew, believed to number 19, had also left Iqaluit.

As of midday Wednesday, the Air India jet remained at the Iqaluit airport.

The airline has not responded to a request for more information about when the jet will be moved.

The RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region’s federal Arctic unit announced Tuesday it had stepped in to investigate the emergency landing, along with Nunavut RCMP.

An RCMP truck parks at the Iqaluit airport Tuesday, hours before the passengers from an Air India jet that made an emergency landing there were flown to Chicago. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

There was a significant police presence inside and outside the Iqaluit airport all day Tuesday, but no visible presence late Wednesday morning.

“We can confirm members of the specialized units are on location in Nunavut assisting,” Christina Zoernig, a federal policing strategist with the RCMP unit, wrote in an email Tuesday.

On Wednesday, she said there were no further updates.

For staff of Frobisher Bay Touchdown services, Tuesday was busy, dealing with the emergency landing while also working with regular aviation clients, manager Hussam Beg said.

Frobisher Bay Touchdown is an aviation company that works with diverted commercial flights. It supports passengers, arranges meals and works with the authorities on the ground.

Beg said he doesn’t have a confirmed departure time when the 19 Air India crew members, the jet and some passengers’ luggage will leave for Chicago.

But, the aircraft’s security screening is done, and the plane is awaiting the pre-departure checks, so the hope is sometime tonight or early tomorrow morning, he added.

“Only once this plane is off the ground and reaches, safely, Chicago, is then when we can sleep in peace, and that’s what matters to us,” Beg said.

The Iqaluit airport is no stranger to emergency landings.

In May, an Air France flight from Paris to Seattle was grounded for several hours due to a heat smell in the cabin. Passengers were able to leave several hours later when the airline flew in a replacement aircraft from Montreal.

In 2018, an electrical failure forced a British Airways flight headed to Calgary from London to land in Iqaluit.

Jeff Pelletier,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Nunatsiaq News