Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver forced to return to San Francisco

An Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver had to turn around and make an unscheduled landing shortly after taking off in San Francisco Sunday morning. (Twitter/@twuskip1)

Vancouver — An Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver had to turn around and make an unscheduled landing shortly after taking off in San Francisco Sunday morning.

A spokesperson for Jazz Aviation, which operated the flight for Air Canada under its Air Canada Express Brand, told CTV News Vancouver the crew aboard the flight received "a rear lavatory smoke detector indication."

"The flight returned to San Francisco and the crew requested priority landing as per standard operating procedures," the spokesperson said.

The plane landed safely and the crew performed an emergency evacuation, according to Jazz. Emergency crews met the aircraft and inspected it, but did not find any fire.

Another aircraft and crew were sent to resume the flight. A total of 74 passengers and four crew members were aboard the original plane, a Bombardier CRJ-900, the spokesperson said.

The abandoned flight was AC8839, which departs San Francisco for Vancouver at 8:20 a.m. daily.

The spokesperson said Jazz Aviation apologizes to customers for the inconvenience.