KELOWNA – It’s “better safe than sorry” and it appears that belief is what motivated the actions of emergency response teams this weekend after a threat was called in to Kelowna International Airport.
A 35-year-old Alberta man living in Summerland is facing several charges in relation to the threat at YLW.
RCMP say Michael Joseph Howells has been charged and was scheduled to appear in court Monday.
The airport received a threat to an outgoing domestic flight on Saturday afternoon.
Kelowna RCMP say they got a report of a possible threat, which was specific to an outbound flight set to depart from YLW later in the afternoon.
The plane was inbound at the time of the report, and RCMP say, as a precaution, it was diverted to a secure location away from the terminal for extra safety measures.
Luggage from the outbound flight was taken off the plane, isolated away from the terminal building and searched.
“The inbound flight was never subject to the threat and police believed the aircraft and passengers of that flight were never in danger,” says Clark.
Passengers were also searched but police say “nothing of note was located.”
“It was out of an abundance of caution and for the purposes of the investigation that the flight was isolated and the passengers and their luggage searched,” says Clark.
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