The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stuck in New Delhi following the conclusion of the G20 summit as his official aircraft has developed a snag. While the nature of the snag remains unknown, this is not the first time that the 34-year-old aircraft, nicknamed ‘Flying Taj Mahal’, has suffered a mechanical defect in its history of transporting Trudeau across the globe.
How did the Canadian PM’s aircraft get the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ moniker?
The CC 150 Polaris aircraft, which is essentially an Airbus 310-300, was christened the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ by the then opposition leader of Canada Jean Chrétien in the early 1990s. Chrétien named it so after a lavish upgrade of the aircraft’s interiors was done by the then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Chrétien subsequently became the PM himself and he also used the aircraft on official trips but chose to tone down the interiors.
What has been the spate of snags with the aircraft?
Before donning the VIP role, the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ was part of a batch of five aircraft, which was inducted into commercial service for an airline company in 1987-88. It began to have maintenance issues only recently — all of them have occurred during the prime ministership of Trudeau.
In 2016, the aircraft developed a snag in the flaps which forced Trudeau to return to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, just 30 minutes after take off. At the time, he was headed to Brussels to sign a free trade deal with the European Union.
Two years later, Trudeau was on his way to India when the aircraft developed a snag in Rome during a refuelling stop. The issue emerged due to a damaged sensor, stretching the fuel stop from the usual 1.5 hours to about three hours. The Canadian media at the time had a field day, giving headlines that the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ delayed Trudeau’s visit to the actual Taj Mahal.
The aircraft suffered severe damage in 2019, when it rolled into the back wall of a hangar while being towed on the ground at an airbase in Canada. The accident left its nose and right engine cowling damaged.
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Is Canada replacing this aircraft?
The Canadian government has acquired two used Airbus A-330 aircraft, manufactured in 2015, from Kuwait Airways. However, these aircraft will not be immediately retrofitted with luxurious cabins for the prime minister. According to Canadian media reports, the upgradation of cabins may take up to two years to happen.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMic2h0dHBzOi8vaW5kaWFuZXhwcmVzcy5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZS9leHBsYWluZWQvZXhwbGFpbmVkLWdsb2JhbC9qdXN0aW4tdHJ1ZGVhdS1mbHlpbmctdGFqLW1haGFsLWFpcmNyYWZ0LXNuYWctODkzNTMwMS_SAXhodHRwczovL2luZGlhbmV4cHJlc3MuY29tL2FydGljbGUvZXhwbGFpbmVkL2V4cGxhaW5lZC1nbG9iYWwvanVzdGluLXRydWRlYXUtZmx5aW5nLXRhai1tYWhhbC1haXJjcmFmdC1zbmFnLTg5MzUzMDEvbGl0ZS8?oc=5
2023-09-11 14:18:57Z
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