Fisher recalled a case in which a first-responder made threatening calls against airlines so he could rack up overtime pay.


The airport contacted the RCMP and Transport Canada, Dickson said. “The threat would have to be fairly credible for them to divert the plane and put it down”, said Cygman.

Officials continue to take the bomb threat seriously by using a bomb-sniffing dog.

The plane landed safely in Victoria and aircraft and baggage was screened on arrival as a precaution.

Hyde says when determining whether or not a threat is real they have to look at a number of things including the length of a call, the particular flight targeted and the reason for the threat. “They didn’t tell us until the end”.

Strawson said she didn’t feel like it was a real bomb threat because passengers were kept inside the nearby terminal, but she didn’t feel they were being properly informed.

James Bogusz with the Victoria Airport Authority says Flight 1709 received the threat around 4:20 pm.

“RCMP to proceed with criminal mischief investigation”, WestJet said over Twitter. Erin Fraser. Investigators are looking into whether there are links to other threats against WestJet flights this week.

Canadian law enforcement agencies couldn’t seem to agree Thursday who should take the lead investigating a series of bomb threats – all fake – against WestJet flights over the past week.

June 29: WestJet flight from Edmonton to Toronto diverted to Winnipeg.


Since then there have been threats against five WestJet flights, one on Saturday and then one every day since Monday.