Flights to the United States were cancelled from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday morning due to an “odour from construction material” in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) area. A spokesperson with the Aéroport de Montréal (ADM) has since confirmed to CTV News that the source of the smell was “interior painting work.” All the same, the USCBP temporarily suspended its operations. “Every effort is being made to resume operations as quickly as possible,” the ADM said at the time. “Passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport.” As of 11:15 a.m., the ADM said that operations at U.S. Customs were gradually returning. “The temporary suspension was caused by the odour of varnish associated with painting work,” it said. “While the odour may have been unpleasant, it did not pose any health risk.” Asked to leave Abraham Wexler, who was at the airport trying to board an early morning flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., told CJAD 800 that following the incident, all travellers were asked to quickly leave the area. “The security people said that there are no U.S. customs people at their counters,” he said, adding that he saw two or three ambulances onsite. Eli Jacobson said he arrived at the airport at 6:30 a.m. only to find out that his flight to Las Vegas had been delayed until the next day. “Nothing was moving,” he told CTV News. “We saw paramedics, firemen go through, and they just told us all to leave, cancelled all the flights to the States.” Margaret Busath noted that her family is still waiting for answers about whether or not they will be flying in the next few hours. “There wasn’t a lot of information, and then they told us all to leave, and that the U.S. Customs was temporarily closed,” she said. The incident left many on social media making Mike chez RONA jokes, referencing the store’s parody song encouraging people to buy fans when painting. “It smells like a hardware store in here,” joked one user. “Where’s Mike?” asked another. Anyone with questions regarding U.S. preclearance operations is encouraged to contact USCBP directly.
