Angela Merkels Airbus forced to land after technical problems
News & Trends •
an airbus a340 government aircraft carrying german chancellor angela merkel and her delegation to the g20 summit in argentina was forced to land en route after suffering technical problems on thursday evening the captain said1 around an hour into the trip from berlin the captain told passengers he had decided to land at cologne-bonn airport in northwestern germany after the malfunction of several electronic systems but said there had been no security risk1 it was not immediately clear when a new aircraft would arrive to continue the 15-hour flight to argentina1 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 board1 later the delegation traveled by bus to a hotel in bonn. delegation sources said efforts were underway to organize new flights for merkel and finance minister olaf scholz possibly on a commercial carrier1 the delay could complicate merkels schedule at the two-day meeting in argentina where the group of 20 industrialized countries already expect to face very very difficult negotiations on myriad issues1 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 said1