The airplane that was grounded after an apparent bomb threat at Kelowna International Airport on Saturday afternoon is now clear to fly, and police say they have arrested a “person of interest” in the case.
Police would not confirm that there was a bomb threat, but airport officials said earlier in the day that emergency responders were on standby while waiting for a bomb squad to arrive.
The airport received a call threatening a specific plane shortly after noon. The threat was to a plane that had arrived from Edmonton and was scheduled to depart for another destination.
The 98 passengers who had traveled from Edmonton were initially held on board the plane. Later, they were transferred by bus to the terminal for screening. The passengers and their luggage were searched, as was another plane, but police said they found nothing of interest.
After the incident, some passengers told reporters they were unhappy with the way their situation had been handled.
“If there’s a bomb threat on a plane, wouldn’t you think to de-plane the people before starting to check?” asked a passenger who identified himself only as Mike. “Or just leave them on there and let them get blown up?”
Passenger Steve Vadnas said people were stuck on the plane for two and a half hours waiting for an explanation of what was happening. They remained calm during that time, he said, but authorities should have made them more of a priority.
“That’s what we want to know, we want to know why,” Vadnas said. “Why were we last, not first? There were babies and children and adults all sitting there waiting to know what was going on.”
For their part, police said the passengers were never at risk. As of Saturday evening, charges for the person arrested had not been announced.
Whoever called in the threat had the wrong information about the flight, said airport spokeswoman Jenelle Haynes. It took airport staff some time to figure out what exactly had been threatened.
The incident caused several delays in the airport’s schedule.
