US embassy cable - 05QUEBEC32

UNCLAS QUEBEC 000032 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/CAN FOR TERRY BREESE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, OPRC, OIIP, KPAO, PREL, CA, CU, Transportation 
SUBJECT: AIR TRANSAT INCIDENT:  TALE OF A JOB WELL DONE 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Kudos to Embassy Ottawa's Bud Locklear, 
FAA's Krista Berquist, EB/TRA and PAO Montreal for quickly 
providing the information needed to correct false media reports 
in Quebec that U.S. authorities had refused emergency landing 
permission for a Canadian Airbus A-310 en route from Cuba to 
Quebec City.  Thanks to your efforts we were able to put to bed 
an untrue report, within twenty-four hours, feeding 
anti-American sentiment in Quebec.  We believe it is just this 
kind of "rapid reaction public diplomacy" that will help cooler 
heads prevail in the province of Quebec. End Summary 
 
2. At approximately 10 a.m. on Monday, March 7, the consulate 
began receiving furious phone calls from the public regarding 
Air Transat flight 961 which purportedly was denied landing 
permission at Fort Lauderdale airport March 6.  That morning 
Quebec City's French-language daily "Le Soleil" ran a front page 
article indicating that the Canadian charter plane, carrying 261 
passengers and 9 crewmembers, had departed Varadero, Cuba, for 
Quebec City and reportedly experienced a mechanical failure 
after take-off.  Our callers told us that the aircraft headed 
back to Varadero because landing permission in the U.S. was 
refused because the flight originated in Cuba. 
 
3.  Meanwhile, several dailies, radio and television were 
picking up the story, including interviews with angry passengers 
who told of the purported denial of landing permission. Local 
media representatives began calling to confirm this information. 
 Consul General emailed PAO Alyson Grunder in Montreal and 
copied colleagues in Ottawa.  Within minutes Montreal had 
contacted the Charge at the ICAO Mission to get a read out and 
forwarded our original email to Embassy Ottawa's ECON section. 
By noon, Bud Locklear had reached the FAA and we had a 
preliminary statement.  FAA then proceeded to go through the air 
traffic tapes which established that the Air Transat pilot had 
not declared an emergency, but simply asked to divert to FLL. 
The pilot himself had made the decision to return to Cuba.  At 5 
p.m., FAA public affairs had performed an accident investigation 
and air traffic evaluation and was in touch with Canadian 
reporters.  By the 6 o'clock news, Radio-Canada and other 
television news stations reported the FAA had investigated the 
incident.  (Still, the Radio-Canada anchor voiced doubt about 
the FAA story.)   By 10 p.m. the negative speculation was 
dropped.  The next morning, March 8, Le Soleil carried the 
detailed FAA information front page and media attention moved to 
Air Transat's failure to adequately protect the lives of its 
passengers and its impact on its share price.  (Just last week, 
Air Transat's insurers agreed to pay C$7.65 M in damages to 
passengers on a 2001 flight that ran out of fuel and was forced 
to make an emergency landing in the Azores.) 
 
4.  (SBU) COMMENT.  The refused permission story apparently 
originated in passenger reports that following a mechanical 
failure the pilot announced a landing in Ft Lauderdale.  After 
circling the city, the pilot subsequently announced the flight 
would instead return to Cuba because landing permission was 
refused.  The Quebec public's readiness to jump to negative 
conclusions about U.S. actions is unfortunate, but the speed 
with which we were able to turn public opinion around, by 
getting the facts out quickly, is at least important - if not a 
more important - lesson to be drawn.