Germany’s foreign minister was waiting in Abu Dhabi on Monday after a technical problem on her government plane — the latest in a succession of such incidents — forced it to return to the airport rather than continue to Australia. Annalena Baerbock was due to arrive in Canberra on Monday night at the start of a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. But her German air force Airbus A340 had to return to Abu Dhabi after a refueling stop because of “a mechanical problem with the landing flaps,” ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The pilot noticed the problem minutes after the plane took off from Abu Dhabi, and the plane landed again safely two hours later after dumping some 80 tons of fuel, German news agency dpa reported. Baerbock’s ministry said it was examining options for the minister to continue her journey.
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