The German foreign minister is stuck in Abu Dhabi after another government plane problem

Berlin (AFP) – Germany’s foreign minister was waiting in Abu Dhabi on Monday after a technical problem on her government plane – the latest in a string of accidents – forced her to turn back to the airport rather than continue to Australia.

Annalina Berbock was due to arrive in Canberra on Monday evening, at the start of a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. But its German Air Force Airbus A340 had to return to Abu Dhabi after a refueling stop due to a “mechanical problem with the landing flaps,” ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer wrote on Twitter.

The German News Agency (dpa) reported that the pilot noticed the problem minutes after the plane took off from Abu Dhabi, and the plane landed again safely two hours later after unloading about 80 tons of fuel.

The Barbock Ministry said it was examining options for the minister to continue her journey.

It was the latest in a series of problems with German government aircraft, some of them aging, that affected several senior officials. In May, Barbock had to extend a trip to the Persian Gulf region by one day due to a damaged plane tire while in Qatar.

The plane that Burbock was using on her flight to Australia was involved 2018 incident This led to then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and then-Finance Minister Olaf Scholz making a delayed departure for the G-20 summit in Argentina on a commercial flight.

In this case, the electrical distribution box failed, affecting the radio system and the fuel system meaning the aircraft could not dump fuel. It turned back and landed at Cologne Bonn Airport with most of the fuel for the transatlantic flight on board.

The government has since ordered three new A350s, two of which are already in service.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Christina Ruzzi said that the A340 in question will be decommissioned at the end of September, and the other aircraft of the same type at the end of next year. But it said the aircraft were chosen according to what was available and needed, and said the fleet was “at the technical level of a well-known airline”.