The plane carrying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Jamaica for a family vacation experienced mechanical issues earlier this week, necessitating the deployment of a second aircraft and repair crew by the Canadian military. According to Defence Department spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin, the Royal Canadian Air Force CC-144 Challenger encountered a maintenance problem on January 2, which was discovered before Trudeau’s scheduled return to Canada.
To address the issue, the Canadian Armed Forces dispatched another aircraft and maintenance team to Jamaica. Their efforts were successful in resolving the problem by January 3, enabling the prime minister, who is unable to fly commercially for security reasons, to depart on the original plane. This incident marked the second time in a few months that aircraft problems disrupted Trudeau’s travel plans in a foreign country, following previous technical difficulties with the CC-150 Polaris plane during a trip to India in September.
No details were provided by the government regarding the cause of the Challenger’s issues in Jamaica. In addition, after initially indicating that the family had financed their stay in Jamaica, the Prime Minister’s Office later clarified that they were staying for free at a property owned by family friends. The PMO also stated that the federal ethics commissioner had been consulted ahead of the trip and that the family would reimburse the public for the cost of a commercial flight.