NORAD Fighters Intercept Civilian Airliner Near Quebec City

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Two Canadian CF-18 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a commercial airliner near Quebec City, Quebec today at approximately 11:50 a.m. MDT.

The fighters intercepted the airliner, which was on a transatlantic route, after it was not responsive to radio communication. The jet fighters were able to assist the civilian airliner in re-establishing radio communications with air traffic control, and the airliner proceeded without incident to its destination.

NORAD's mission – in close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law enforcement partners – is to prevent air attacks against North America, safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada by responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating within these airspaces, and provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America. NORAD may be required to monitor, shadow, divert from flight path, direct to land and/or destroy platforms deemed a potential threat to North America.

NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The command is poised both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to provide a multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent potential threats flying over the airspace of the United States and Canada.

For further information, please contact Canadian NORAD Region Public Affairs at 1-204-833-2500 x 6904 or jill.strelieff@forces.gc.ca