Travel Troubles: Merkel Skips G20 Summit
During what she described as a “serious malfunction,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz found their flight from Cologne to Buenos Aires grounded midway, throwing a wrench into an already packed diplomatic schedule.
What Went Wrong?
- The Airbus A340, named Konrad Adenauer, took off from Cologne‑Bonn and hit a snag just an hour into a 15‑hour journey.
- Passengers were told by the captain that several electronic systems failed, prompting an unscheduled but safe landing at the airport.
- Team reports say the entire communication suite broke down, forcing the crew to rely on a satellite‑phone for navigation. The transponder blinked the radio‑fault code 7600.
- Near the runway, mechanics worked on brakes while fire services stood by—no danger involved, but the scene looked more like a scene from a Hollywood thriller than a Euro‑flight.
Immediate Aftermath
After the safe touchdown, Merkel and her entourage were whisked to a hotel in Bonn. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen was hustled into the loop, scrambling for an emergency replacement aircraft.
In a typical German bureaucracy shuffle, the delegation took a bus to a downtown hotel before a government jet ferried Merkel and Scholz to Madrid. There, they’ll hop onto a commercial flight for the final leg to Argentina.
The G20 Impact
The G20 summit kicked off in Argentina on Thursday. Merkel planned out‑of‑the‑box bilateral talks with the presidents of the United States, China, Russia, and India. With their arrival delayed until Friday evening, those meetings will have to either be pushed back or rescheduled on short notice.
Scholz, it turns out, isn’t the only one who’s had igneous mishaps on the wing—he last month was grounded in Indonesia after a rodent‑induced mishap onboard the same aircraft.
Where We Stand
In the end, a rare tech glitch cost the German delegation a few precious hours. While the plane’s flight crew and pilot executed the safe landing flawlessly, the timing misalignment means the chancellor misses the crucial opening proceedings with the world’s 20 leading economies.
Whether she’ll still get her tea with the world’s top leaders will hinge on how flexibly the summit hosts can shift the agenda.
