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Passengers on Sunwing party flight fined total of $59,500: transport minister

MONTREAL — The federal transport minister says 37 passengers on a late-December party flight from Montreal to Mexico have been fined a total of $59,500.

Omar Alghabra’s office says 42 tickets were issued, including 18 for non-compliance with vaccination requirements and 24 for violations of masking rules.

Videos of the charter flight from Montreal to Cancun were shared on social media and show unmasked passengers singing and dancing in the aisles and on seats, some clutching liquor, snapping selfies and vaping.

The minister’s office says a Transport Canada investigation into the flight is ongoing and further sanctions could be issued.

Sunwing Airlines cancelled the group’s return flight after the videos began circulating. Air Canada and Air Transat also refused to book the flight’s 154 passengers on return trips to Canada.

At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the passengers — a group that included Quebec social media influencers and reality television personalities — as barbarians and “idiots.”

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2021