German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says her planned week-long trip to the Indo-Pacific region had to be cancelled due to repeated mechanical issues with her government plane.
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"We have tried everything: unfortunately it is logistically impossible to continue my Indo-Pacific trip without the defective plane. This is more than annoying," said Baerbock on X, formerly known as Twitter.
On Monday, the plane had attempted to make the journey from Abu Dhabi twice but was forced to return for safety reasons due to a technical malfunction with the wing flaps, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on X.
A commercial flight to Sydney was planned, but the trip was canned at short notice.
"We checked and planned right up to the last minute, but unfortunately it was no longer possible to logistically present the planned travel stops of the Indo-Pacific trip with the options still available after the breakdown of the preparedness aircraft," said a Foreign Office spokesperson on Tuesday.
As a result of the incident, Germany's armed forces have decided to take its two A340 aircraft out of service.
"We will take the two A340s out of service as soon as possible, i.e. in the coming weeks," a spokesman said on Tuesday.
According to previous plans, the two Airbus A340s were to be taken out of service in September 2023 and at the end of 2024. Instead, the existing, more modern A350s are to be used for long-haul routes.
Baerbock's A340 was still parked in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The minister had been due to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
During her inaugural visit to Australia, Baerbock planned to visit both Canberra and Sydney, where she was supposed to meet Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Germany was also to return cultural objects from the colonial era to the Indigenous Kaurna people, whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains.
The cultural objects from the Grassi Museum in Leipzig - a wooden sword, a spear, a fish net and a club - have sacred, cultural and identity value for the Kaurna.
It's not the first time problems with planes have derailed German diplomacy.
In mid-May, Baerbock was stranded in Doha due to a flat tyre on her government aircraft.
Last year, she also had to cancel a trip to meet with her British counterpart, James Cleverly, due to poor weather.
In 2018, former Chancellor Angela Merkel missed the opening of the G20 summit in Argentina over a "serious malfunction" that forced her government plane to make an unscheduled landing.
with DPA
Australian Associated Press
