CanJet Flight 918 (CJA 918, C6 918) was a flight that was on 19 April 2009 to have taken off from

Sangster International Airport Sangster International Airport is an international airport located east of Montego Bay, Jamaica. The airport is capable of handling nine million passengers per year. It serves as the most popular airport for tourists visiting the north coast ...

(MBJ),

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, ho ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

, bound for

Halifax Stanfield International Airport Halifax Stanfield International Airport is a Canadian airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, a rural community of the Halifax Regional Municipality. It serves the Halifax region, mainland Nova Scotia, and adjacent areas in the neighbouring Maritime p ...

(YHZ), Halifax, Canada, but was instead seized before takeoff for hours by an armed, lone hijacker. This was the first incidence of a hijacking on Jamaican soil, and the second time a Canadian airliner has been hijacked.

Hijacking

The flight was operated by a nine year old

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...

built in 2000, with the registration of C-FTCZ by the Canadian airline

CanJet CanJet was a Canadian low-cost air carrier headquartered in Enfield, Nova Scotia and based at Halifax International Airport. In addition to initially flying scheduled passenger service, CanJet operated charter flights using its own brand as well ...

. Carrying 174 passengers and 8 crew, all Canadian, the plane was originally scheduled to leave MBJ at 11:00pm on 19 April 2009, due for arrival at YHZ at 7:15am the following day. However, at 10:30pm, local time, Flight 918 was boarded by a lone, armed hijacker20-year-old Stephen Fray of Montego Bay, calling himself "Rico"who gained access to the plane brandishing a firearm and demanded to be taken to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

so he could defect there. The passengers were soon released, with testimony from them revealing that a flight attendant had convinced Fray to allow the passengers egress in exchange for their money. The hijacker did, though, continue to hold five crew hostage while negotiations, which included Fray's father and the

Prime Minister of Jamaica The prime minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Holness, as leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), was sworn in as prime minister on 7 September 2020, having been re-elected as a result of t ...

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to h ...

, continued. Following the breakdown of negotiations, the police were ordered to take the aircraft, and, at approximately 6:40am the

Jamaica Defence Force The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is the combined military of Jamaica, consisting of an infantry Regiment and Reserve Corps, an Air Wing, a Coast Guard fleet and a supporting Engineering Unit. The JDF is based upon the British military model, with ...

Counter Terrorism Operations Group members stormed Flight 918 and took the gunman into custody. Two special operations operatives entered through the cockpit window and replaced the copilot, while one of the operatives, impersonating the copilot, met with and overpowered the hijacker, who was reported to be "mentally challenged."

Reactions

At the time of the hijacking, the

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as suc ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

, was in the midst of a visit to Jamaica, and, when informed of the event and release of some hostages, offered the use of his government aircraft to fly the passengers back to Canada. Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a security analyst for

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national n ...

and former

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating i ...

officer, expressed concern over airport security in Jamaica, given the visit by the Canadian Prime Minister at the time of the hijacking, which he opined should have placed security on high alert. The

Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety ...

similarly reported on concerns raised in Jamaica over the privatised airport security's quality; the security was managed by a consortium, MBJ Airports Ltd., headed by the Canadian firm

Vancouver Airport Services Vantage Airport Group (or Vantage, formerly Vancouver Airport Services or YVRAS) is an airport management, development and investment company with 10 airports in Canada, the United States, Cyprus, The Bahamas and Jamaica. History Vantage Airport ...

(25% stakeholder), with

Abertis Abertis Infraestructuras, S.A. () is a Spanish worldwide corporation engaged in toll road management. Even though most of the toll roads it operates in Spain are in Catalonia, the company is headquartered in Madrid. The company runs over 8,600 k ...

as a partner.

Aftermath

After CanJet sent an aircraft from its hub

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

to retrieve passengers from Montego Bay and return them to Canada, Bruce Golding advised

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Sir Patrick Allen Sir Patrick Linton Allen (born 7 February 1951) is a Jamaican statesman and former Seventh-day Adventist pastor, who has served as the 6th and current governor-general of Jamaica since 26 February 2009. The fourth of five children in a fami ...

to order an investigation into how a gunman was able to board an airliner in Jamaica. The

Governor-in-Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...

further issued an apology to the passengers and crew of Flight 918 and offered a one-week vacation at a Sandals resort in Jamaica. Transport Minister Mike Henry also ordered a security review, which covered both MBJ and

Norman Manley International Airport Norman Manley International Airport , formerly Palisadoes Airport, is an international airport serving Kingston, Jamaica and is located south of the island away from the centre of New Kingston. It is the second busiest airport in the country a ...

in the capital,

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. The Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) commended the crew for their efforts in thwarting the skyjacking, and on 15 June 2009, the crew of Flight 918 was invited to meet with the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...

Michaëlle Jean Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...

, at

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main ...

. On 1 May 2009, Stephen Fray was officially charged with assault, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, shooting with intent, and breaching the Civil Aviation Act in connection with the hijacking. Fray was convicted and sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison. On 20 May 2011, an appeal of Fray's conviction and sentence was launched in Jamaica's Court of Appeal. Fray's lawyer claimed in court that when Fray committed the offence, he was "suffering from a mental illness as understood in Jamaican law, specifically the Mental Health Act," adding that spending time in jail "would not help Fray or the society at large".

References

External links

* The Gleaner (Kingston)
"Who is Stephen Fray?"
(short bio of hijacker) *

"Hijacker Stephen Fray, A Well-Mannered, Sociable Man"
(short bio of hijacker) * Jamaica Observer
"PM Orders Probe Into Airport Security Breaches"
* CTV News
"Hijacking indicative of airport vulnerability"
* Global News

* The Gleaner (Kingston)

* Toronto Star
"Anatomy of a foiled hijacking"
(timeline of hijacking) {{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2009 Aircraft hijackings 2009 crimes in Jamaica Terrorist incidents in Jamaica Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Next Generation Terrorist incidents in North America in 2009 Aviation in Jamaica Aviation accidents and incidents in 2009 Aviation accidents and incidents in Jamaica April 2009 events in North America