Two women charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft after a Cuba-bound flight had to return to Toronto escorted by fighter jets have been granted bail, but one of the women is still in police custody.
The incident happened on Aug. 27 on a Sunwing Airlines flight en route to Varadero from Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Janine Chapman, a Sunwing spokesperson told CP24 that two passengers had “consumed a significant quantity of their duty-free alcohol” in the plane’s lavatory and lit a cigarette setting off the smoke alarm.
“These passengers proceeded to get into a physical altercation with each other and made a threat against the aircraft, which was considered non-credible given their condition,” said Chapman.
A decision was made to turn the plane around and two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets were launched to monitor the situation from the air and escort the plane back to Toronto.
A written statement for the North American Aerospace Defense Command said the fighter jets based out of Bagotville, Que. were sent “as a precautionary measure.”
Lilia Ratmanski, 25, of Whitby and Milana Muzikante, 26, of Vaughan, have been charged with smoking on an aircraft, endangering the safety of an aircraft, uttering threats and mischief endangering life.
The women appeared in a Brampton courthouse yesterday and were granted $2,500 bail. However, Muzikante had to spend another night in jail because a surety was not present to sign off on her bail conditions. Although she was back in court this morning with at least one person who appeared to be her surety, a police officer said an interpreter was needed for the surety. She has now been taken to the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton.
Lawyers for the women have declined to comment.
The case has now been put over to Sept. 29.
The women are not permitted to enter an airport, board a plane or buy, possess or consume alcohol as conditions of their bail.
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