Travel Incidents: 1) Fatal New York Bus Crash: Officials Say Most People On Board Were Canadian, 2) Canadian Airlines Say They’re Unaffected By Boeing 737-9 Max Jetliner Incident
1) Fatal New York Bus Crash: Officials Say Most People On Board Were Canadian
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Jan 7th, 2024
Montreal
The majority of the 23 people aboard a bus involved in a deadly crash in Upstate New York on Friday were Canadian citizens, officials in the state have confirmed.
New York State police reported Friday afternoon that a bus travelling from Montreal rolled over on U.S. Highway 87 in the town of Lake George. Police have said one person died and 11 others were injured, one of them seriously. All wounded passengers were taken to nearby hospitals.
Don Lehman, public affairs director for New York’s Warren County — which encompasses Lake George — said Saturday the majority of people aboard the bus travelling to New York City were Canadian and at least two others were Swiss citizens. Eight people were able to continue their journey to New York City by Saturday morning, he said.
Some of the people on the bus spent Friday night at Lake George’s Fort William Henry Hotel, Fort William Henry Corporation CEO Kathryn Flacke Muncil confirmed. She said some of those people were still at the hotel Saturday morning as they waited to collect personal belongings from police and arranged further travel. She declined to provide any information about the travellers.
New York police have identified the bus that crashed as a Skyway Coach Line tour vehicle. FlixBus, a company owned by Germany-based Flix, which also owns Greyhound, confirmed Friday the bus was operating on its behalf on its route from Montreal to Midtown Manhattan. The company said it did not have details about the cause of the crash, but added it is working with local authorities to determine what happened.
2) Canadian Airlines Say They’re Unaffected By Boeing 737-9 Max Jetliner Incident
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Jan 7th, 2024
Toronto
Canadian airlines say they don’t fly the Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners that U.S. regulators have grounded after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout while in flight.
The Alaska Airlines 737-9 Max jetliner blew out a window and a portion of its fuselage shortly after takeoff nearly five kilometres above Oregon late Friday, creating a gaping hole that forced the pilots to make an emergency landing as its 174 passengers and six crew members donned oxygen masks.
Airlines including Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing Airlines, Flair Airlines and Lynx Air all say they fly the 737-8 Max jetliner, while Porter Airlines doesn’t fly any Boeing planes.
Air Canada says its 40 aircraft in the 737-8 Max series don’t have the mid-cabin exit door configuration of the Max 9, adding the aircraft have performed very reliably.
WestJet spokeswoman Julia Kaiser says the airline’s Max 8 planes also don’t have the same door in question in the Alaska Airlines incident, and the company is in constant communication with Boeing to make sure there are no implications to the Max 8 fleet.