Germany's Merkel to miss G20 opening after aircraft woes

[webfact]

Germany's Merkel to miss G20 opening after aircraft woes

 

FILE PHOTO - German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the German-Ukrainian Business Forum conference in Berlin, Germany November 29, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

 

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will miss the opening of the G20 summit in Argentina after technical issues forced her government plane to make an unscheduled but safe landing, German delegation sources said late on Thursday.

 

Merkel and German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will resume their travel to Buenos Aires early on Friday, but the long flight time means they will arrive after world leaders start their discussions.

 

The government's Airbus A340 aircraft carrying Merkel and her delegation to the G20 summit turned around after technical problems surfaced an hour into the 15-hour flight, and landed safely at the Cologne-Bonn airport.

 

The aeroplane captain told passengers he had decided to land after the "malfunction of several electronic systems", but said there had been no security risk.

 

Merkel and other passengers initially remained on board the aircraft, called "Konrad Adenauer", as mechanics inspected its brakes and several fire engines waited nearby, according to a Reuters reporter on board.

 

No details were immediately available about the cause of the technical issues. The German military blog Augengeradeaus reported that the plane's transponder was transmitting the code 7600 which refers to a radio malfunction.

 

Later, the delegation travelled by bus to a hotel in Bonn. Delegation sources said a different government plane would fly Merkel and Scholz to Madrid, where they would switch to a commercial carrier for the final leg of the trip.

 

The delay will complicate Merkel's schedule at meeting where the G20 members already expect to face very difficult negotiations on myriad issues.

 

Merkel, who had planned bilateral meetings with the presidents of the United States, China, Russia and India, was unlikely to arrive in Buenos Aires until Friday evening, German government sources said. It was not immediately clear which bilateral meetings would have to be rescheduled.

 

Scholz was grounded on the same A340 aircraft last month after an International Monetary Fund meeting in Indonesia, according to German media reports. They said the issue involved damage caused by rodents.

 

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-30

[neeray]

How unfortunate. I was hoping she'd lay down the law to Trump again. It makes for great 'news in cartoons'.

[TopDeadSenter]

 This divine intervention throws up an interesting paradox. Ms Merkel flying with a select group of yes-men on a huge A340 to discus climate change, presumably with other world leaders who also flew on near empty wide-body jets. If they were in any way serious they could have these chats via Skype and stop the reckless burning of millions of liters of jet A-1. 

 Thanks to the divine intervention she will end up on a commercial flight, where she should have been in the 1st place.

[ezzra]

8 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 This divine intervention throws up an interesting paradox. Ms Merkel flying with a select group of yes-men on a huge A340 to discus climate change, presumably with other world leaders who also flew on near empty wide-body jets. If they were in any way serious they could have these chats via Skype and stop the reckless burning of millions of liters of jet A-1. 

 Thanks to the divine intervention she will end up on a commercial flight, where she should have been in the 1st place.

What did you expect them to use? a Heinkel He 115 or the Junkers Ju 88 ?...

[steve187]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

What did you expect them to use? a Heinkel He 115 or the Junkers Ju 88 ?...

no hot air balloon, she could have kept it inflated

[quandow]

Could this be a case of, "Not tonight, honey. I have a headache?"

[Zyxel]

On 11/30/2018 at 8:30 AM, ezzra said:

What did you expect them to use? a Heinkel He 115 or the Junkers Ju 88 ?...

Or this:

 

[AnnaBanana]

On ‎11‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 8:30 AM, ezzra said:

What did you expect them to use? a Heinkel He 115 or the Junkers Ju 88 ?...

…or maybe an ME-109.

But hey, they don't make Germans like Willy Messerschmitt any more.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

 

[chickenslegs]

On 11/30/2018 at 8:30 AM, ezzra said:

What did you expect them to use? a Heinkel He 115 or the Junkers Ju 88 ?...

I'm guessing that "Fokker" was mentioned more than once.