The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still stuck in India post the G20 Summit. He was supposed to leave the country on Sunday. However, he had to extend his stay as his official aircraft developed a snag.
This is not the first time that the 34-year-old aircraft, nicknamed ‘Flying Taj Mahal’, suffered a glitch in its time carrying Trudeau across countries.
Why is it called the aircraft ‘Flying Taj Mahal’?
The CC 150 Polaris aircraft, which is an Airbus A310-300, was nicknamed the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ in the early 1990s by Canadian’s then opposition leader Jean Chrétien, who later became the country’s Prime Minister. The leader had named it such after its interior got a lavish upgrade, which was done by the then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, The Indian Express reported.
When Chrétien became the PM, he used the aircraft as well but chose to tone down the interiors.
Flying Taj Mahal and its history of glitches
Before the aircraft wore the robes of a VIP plane, it was a part of a batch of five aircraft, which was brought in for commercial service by an airline firm in 1987-88. The maintenance issues with the aircraft started only recently, and all of them have happened during Trudeau’s tenure.
Back in 2016, Trudeau was forced to return to Ottawa 30 minutes after his take off as the aircraft suffered a glitch in the flaps. Trudeau was on his way to Brussels to sign a free trade deal with the European Union.
Jumping to 2018, when Trudeau was headed to India, the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ developed a snag in Russia during a stop for refuelling. The issue stemmed from a damaged sensor, which extended the fuel stop from the general 1.5 hours to about three hours. The Canadian media then printed that the ‘Flying Taj Mahal’ delayed Trudeau’s visit to the actual Taj Mahal.
In 2019, the VIP aircraft faced severe damage after it rolled into the back wall of a hangar as it was being towed on the ground at a Canadian airbase. The incident left the aircraft’s nose and right engine cowling damaged.
Aircraft’s replacement
Canada has acquired two used 2015-manufactured Airbus A330 aircraft from Kuwait Airways. However, these aircraft will not be immediately retrofitted with luxurious cabins for the leader. Canadian media has said it might take two years for the upgrade to happen.