By Wendy Anders

On New Year’s Eve day, a pilot for Canada’s Sunwing airlines was arrested after being discovered drunk on the plane he was to have flown from Calgary, in western Canada, to the Mexican city of Cancun, reported AFP.

The pilot, a 37-year-old man, fainted before taking off, and was taken off the plane and stopped by Calgary police at around 7:00 a.m., continued AFP.

The airline’s staff had noticed he was acting strangely before he fainted in the cabin.

Police found that he had “more than three times the alcohol rate” authorized in Canada (0.08 percent) two hours after his arrest, continued the news report.

He has been accused of planning to pilot a plane in state of drunkenness, and possibly of other crimes.

A Sunwing spokeswoman told local media that the company acknowledged the crew’s work to “resolve this unfortunate incident.”

The plane, a Boeing 737, was able to take off later with another captain in command. The plane had 99 passengers on board and six crew members, said AFP.