Canadian charter flights leaving Lebanon have hundreds of empty seats, Global Affairs says
Department says there were more empty seats than passengers on Thursday
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) reported that two flights chartered by the federal government to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon departed from Beirut to Istanbul on Thursday, carrying only 275 passengers and leaving 379 seats empty.
During the Francophonie Summit in Paris on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly informed reporters that the two flights had a total of 654 seats available.
"Please take the seats," Joly urged. "At this point, not all seats are taken by Canadians."
Following Joly's media session, her department released a statement indicating that the two flights had a combined total of 275 passengers, not all of whom were Canadian. The department noted that passengers included citizens from "like-minded countries" such as Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and the U.S.
GAC officials mentioned that the exact number of Canadians evacuated on Thursday will be available on Friday after reviewing the flight manifests. They also confirmed the number of empty seats.
"Global Affairs Canada has increased its surge capacity at the Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa to ensure we contact all Canadians in Lebanon who have accepted our offer for seats on commercial flights," the department stated in its release.
"The team is working around the clock and has reached out to more than 2,300 individuals to offer flight options," it continued, noting an increase from the 1,700 people contacted as of Tuesday.
Earlier this week, GAC officials informed reporters during a technical briefing that of the 1,700 people in Lebanon they had contacted at that time, only one-third had accepted the offered seats.
The department also announced that nearly 900 seats will be available from Friday to Sunday.
