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Australia-bound German minister stranded again due to aircraft mechanical issues

15 Aug 2023 11:33am
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's plane early on Tuesday morning had to turn around shortly after taking off from Abu Dhabi and return to the United Arab Emirates for a second time as her plane continued to experience mechanical problems. - Photo by AFP
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's plane early on Tuesday morning had to turn around shortly after taking off from Abu Dhabi and return to the United Arab Emirates for a second time as her plane continued to experience mechanical problems. - Photo by AFP
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ABU DHABI - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's plane early on Tuesday morning had to turn around shortly after taking off from Abu Dhabi and return to the United Arab Emirates for a second time as her plane continued to experience mechanical problems.

Baerbock was stranded in Abu Dhabi early on Monday morning on her way to a week-long visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. A technical issue meant her government plane had to return to the Emirate, where it had previously made a planned refuelling stopover, shortly after take-off.

A second attempt of setting off in the early hours of Tuesday failed.

Fifteen minutes after taking off at 1 am (2100 GMT Monday), the A340-300 Airbus carrying the minister turned off course again and was heading back towards Abu Dhabi.

The captain said the plane was experiencing the same problem as on Monday.

"If you look at the monitors, you will recognise the same flight behaviour as yesterday. We're circling right now. We unfortunately had the same problem we had yesterday happen again," the captain said, according to a German news agency (dpa) reporter on board.

The captain said the plane was again experiencing issues with the wing flaps, which prevented the aircraft reaching its normal cruising altitude and speed.

The captain added that it was unlikely that the trip to Australia would be attempted again on the aircraft as the source of the issue was still a mystery.

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During her inaugural visit to Australia, Baerbock plans to visit both Canberra and Sydney, where she is supposed to meet Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

This is not the first time Baerbock has run into problems with a German government jet, having been stranded in Qatar due to a flat tyre in mid-May. - BERNAMA

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