Ground stops lifted at Ottawa and Montreal airports after threat reported

Several security incidents at airports in Ottawa and Montreal briefly grounded flights

Ground stops were lifted at international airports in Ottawa and Montreal after a bomb threat on Thursday briefly halted departing flights, Transport Canada and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.

• Latest updates: Travellers could see delays after bomb threats at Canadian airports, Nav Canada says

The Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport said on X that the security incident had been resolved and operations were returning to normal. Officials at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International airport were not immediately available for comment.

Air traffic control manager NAV Canada said in a statement that it was made aware of bomb threats affecting several of its facilities.

• Read more from CTV News Ottawa
• Read more from CTV News Montreal

Employees at affected locations were safely evacuated.

The FAA said the security incident arose from a bomb threat.

Transport Canada said in a statement it was working with airport authorities, NAV Canada and local law enforcement “to fully assess the situation and ensure the safety of passengers, employees and our airport infrastructures.”

The agency said that “as a result of this morning’s events, some flights may still be delayed over the next hours.”

Ottawa is currently experiencing departure delays averaging 65 minutes, FlightAware said.

The Ottawa Police Service also said on X that it was investigating a security incident at the Ottawa airport.

Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, David Shephardson in Washington and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Reuters