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A suspicious package temporarily reduced air traffic at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday, but operations have now returned to normal.
“The investigation conducted by local law enforcement has concluded and has been found to be unfounded,” said Eric Forest, spokesperson Aéroports de Montréal.
“Standard security protocols were activated to ensure the safety of the travelling public and the facilities following the identification of a suspicious suitcase on board a flight that landed at YUL.”
Forest declined to provide further details.
At 3:30 p.m., the airport the number of flights into the airport was reduced due to a “package of interest” on board an aircraft that landed in Montreal.
One of two runways was closed, while the other remained open, the airport said.
Just before 5 p.m., it announced that both runways had been reopened and there was no threat to passengers. The situation had caused delays for some domestic and cross-border flights.
A spokesperson for Transport Canada said the agency was “aware of the occurrence involving Air Canada,” but provided no further details. “Transport Canada officials are in contact with local authorities and the carrier.”
The American Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) had said on its website at 3 p.m. that there was a “ground stop” for flights from some American airports departing for YUL, the code for the Montreal airport. The ground stop means those flights will not take off.
The FAA alert was downgraded at 4:45 p.m. to a “ground delay,” meaning flights departing for YUL from some airports are now delayed by almost an hour due to “airport volume.”
The initial FAA warning cited a bomb threat for the ground stop, but a spokesperson for the Quebec provincial police force insisted there was no bomb threat.