Two top BlackBerry executives who got so drunk on a transpacific Air Canada flight that it had to be diverted to Vancouver last week are no longer employed at Research In Motion.

In a brief statement issued Monday, the Waterloo-based company said: “RIM expects that its employees conduct themselves in a manner reflective of our strong principles and standards of business behaviour.

“RIM does not condone behaviour that conflicts with applicable laws and employees are expected to act, at all times, with integrity and respect,” it said.

RIM won’t reveal what positions the pair held, but sources have told the Star that George Campbell, 45, was a senior vice-president and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, was a vice-president.

Under Sedi securities filings, Campbell is listed as an “insider,” a senior officer since 2009.

At RIM headquarters in Waterloo, there has been talk about how Campbell and Wilson had to drive back after the court hearing.

The two are barred from travelling on Air Canada during the probation period.

WestJet Airlines says regulations allow one airline to decline a passenger for previous conduct on another airline for reasons of safety.

Employees at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car office in Richmond, B.C., recall two men renting a car on Wednesday for $495.72, which included a $200 drop-off fee for the one-way rental.

The car, rented in the name of a Paul Wilson, was dropped off at Enterprise’s Winnipeg airport location.

Staff remembers the two because it’s rare to get a request for a one-way booking.

“People usually don’t want to drive across the country. It’s cheaper to fly,” said one staffer.

This incident comes after months of bad press and bad news for RIM, from the extended service outage in October, to news Monday that BlackBerry officials in Indonesia could face charges related to a stampede over a sale.

In Jakarta, police spokesman Baharudin Djafar said Canadian Andrew Cobham is among four suspects facing possible charges of negligence leading to injury.

The crime carries a maximum penalty of nine months in prison.

Dozens were injured and several people fainted at the Nov. 25 debut of RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9790 in Jakarta. There were reports that 5,000 people attended, drawn by a 50 per cent discount to the first 1,000 shoppers.

Queen’s University marketing professor Ken Wong praised RIM’s decision to fire the two executives who disrupted the flight.

“It’s an example of RIM did the right thing,” he said. “It’s good management.

“This was a catastrophic lapse in judgment. You can’t have that in senior management,” he said, especially for a company that prides itself on the responsibility and security of its product.

“You can imagine how bad it must have been for them to have to turn around and land,” Wong said, adding Air Canada’s cabin crews are well-versed in handling tipsy passengers who are urged to sleep it off. “This must have been such a major disturbance.”

Campbell, of Conestogo, Ont., and Wilson, 38, of Kitchener, pleaded guilty to one charge of mischief in Richmond Provincial Court on Wednesday.

They were given suspended sentences, a year’s probation, and ordered to pay restitution to Air Canada of $35,878 each.

They were on a non-stop flight from Toronto to Beijing last Monday, but consumed “too much alcohol” and “disobeyed” the flight crew, the RCMP said.

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The Boeing 777 aircraft, carrying 314 passengers and 17 crew members was already north of Alaska, when the pilots decided to turn the plane around to unload the passengers. RCMP officers were waiting at the airport to arrest the men.

Because the daily direct flight between Toronto and Beijing extends for 13 hours, any unscheduled stop puts the flight crew — four pilots and 13 flight attendants — beyond the hours they are allowed to fly for health and safety reasons.

Air Canada put up passengers in a hotel overnight and then flew on to Beijing on Tuesday, arriving 18 hours late. Passengers in China, waiting for a flight to Canada, were also affected because the jet did not arrive as scheduled.

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