Another Westjet flight, another threat, another diversion

TORONTO – For the fifth time in less than a week, a bomb threat was made towards a Westjet flight on Thursday night.

Westjet confirmed via Twitter Thursday night that a bomb threat was received.

Flight WS 1709 was headed from Las Vegas to Victoria, B.C. and arrived shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Working with law enforcement and regulatory agencies, Westjet determined the threat was not credible and say the RCMP is now pursuing a criminal mishief investigation.

The airline says screening on the flight was done, ”out of an abundance of caution.”

Strategic studies professor Martin Shadwick of York University says when in doubt, airlines often have to play it safe.

“The basic operating principle of airlines, and this goes back long before 9/11, is that you deal with these sorts of threats out of an abundance of caution,” Shadwick said.

“You have to be able to reassure your customers that you’ve done everything humanly possible even though statistically the odds are these are simply hoax calls.”

There have now been six threats to airlines in Canada in the past few weeks.

On Wednesday night, a reported threat diverted passengers on another Westjet flight from Vancouver to Calgary, while on Tuesday Westjet passengers were diverted to Saskatoon for a similar threat.

A WestJet flight from Edmonton to Toronto landed in Winnipeg on Monday following what the airline called an unspecified threat, and another WestJet flight from Edmonton to Halifax landed in Saskatoon after a threat was made Saturday night.

Westjet says safety remains their top priority.