One suspect may face fraud charge after Montreal-Trudeau airport incident; both suspects released
Posted March 18, 2026 4:43 pm.
Last Updated March 19, 2026 8:36 pm.
Quebec provincial police say a man arrested at the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport could face fraud charges following an incident that caused flight delays on Wednesday afternoon.
Police initially said two men, one in his 20s and one in his 30s, had been arrested on flights that landed in Montreal.
But on Thursday, Sgt. Laurie Avoine said only one of them could face charges at a later date.
Air Canada confirmed on Thursday that both men were on flights operated by the airline.
The investigation was handled by Quebec provincial police, who patrol the airport. In an email, the RCMP’s Quebec branch said they were not involved as “there was no nexus to national security.”
In a statement to CityNews, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said:
“We are tracking an air security incident occurring on Wednesday March 18 involving two aircraft bound for Trudeau International (Montréal, Québec, Canada) from overseas. In support of interagency partners, NORAD CF-18s, F-16s and KC-135s from the appropriate NORAD locations, monitored the situation until the involved commercial aircraft landed safely at it’s destination. NORAD employs a layered defense network of radars, satellites, and fighter aircraft to determine appropriate responses to air security incidents and ultimately to keep Canada and the United States safe each and every day.”
Norad did not specify what triggered the alert.
Quebec’s Crown prosecutor’s office said Thursday it had no public information on the matter.
For its part, the Montreal airport said the usual security protocols were triggered after the identification of a “suitcase of interest” located on a plane that had landed in Montreal.
One of the two runways was closed “to ensure the safety of the ongoing investigation,” airport public relations officer Eric Forest said in an email, delaying the arrival and departure of some flights.
The investigation concluded around 6 p.m. and “turned out to be unfounded,” said Forest, adding that there was no threat to the safety of travellers.
Forest added that both runways are back in operation and, despite some delays caused by the operation, “the airport is fully operational.”
For its part, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had warned late in the afternoon that flights to Montreal-Trudeau airport were grounded until at least 5:15 p.m.
In its advisory, the FAA said that “a bomb threat” at the Montreal airport would be the cause of this interruption. Neither the airport nor the SQ confirmed this claim, and the U.S. agency has since amended its advisory to remove the mention of the bomb threat.
“Departures to Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport are delayed by an average of 54 minutes due to crowds at the airport,” reads the FAA’s new travel advisory.
UPDATE
— YUL Aéroport international Montréal-Trudeau (@yulaeroport) March 18, 2026
Both runways are now open at YUL, and the airport is fully operational. https://t.co/d1hpD15l5c
—With files from The Canadian Press, first published in French and translated by CityNews
