Passenger boards Ottawa-bound plane without security check

A passenger at the Iqaluit airport mistakenly boarded a plane headed for Ottawa without passing through security last week.

There are no gate bridges at the Iqaluit airport; passengers board and exit planes on the tarmac.

There is no security screening for flights between Northern communities. Security screening at the Iqaluit airport is done only on passengers boarding planes for Ottawa and Montreal.

Last Tuesday the tarmac was busy with passengers. The passenger in question got off a Dash 8 that had just arrived and instead of proceeding into the terminal, boarded the Canadian North 737.

"She did board the aircraft, which meant we had to re-screen the aircraft and re-screen all the passengers unfortunately," said Scott Weatherall, a spokesperson for Canadian North.

Canadian North calls last week's incident a minor irregularity and says it happens in the North from time to time.

David Bergman,  manager of airport operations, has worked at the airport since 2009. He says it's the first time he's seen a passenger get off one plane and head directly on to another

Could it happen where the passenger is not caught? Bergman says no.

"The people inside the airplane — I don't know if you've ever noticed when you fly — they have a list and they know how many passengers have checked in, how many have proper boarding passes, how many should be on the flight."

Franco Buscemi, one of the passengers on the flight, said he's not too bothered by the security glitch or the fact
that there is no security screening at the territory's smaller community airports.

"I kind of like the openness of being able to fly between our communities without having any security check," he said.

Bergman says there is no immediate plan or need to increase security at the Iqaluit airport.