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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has had to reroute a planned trip to Colombia for a summit of EU and Latin American countries at short notice due to a government aircraft being out of service.<\/p>\n
The German Air Force Airbus A350, which was supposed to fly from Hamburg, is unavailable due to a technical defect, the Foreign Office said late on Friday.<\/p>\n
There was a defect in the de-icing system, a spokesman for the air force, or Luftwaffe, said on Saturday, adding that the necessary spare parts have been ordered.<\/p>\n
Wadephul is to represent Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the meeting.<\/p>\n
The minister now plans take a commercial flight to Colombia and then fly on to Santa Marta on the country’s northern Caribbean coast where the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit is taking place, the statement continued.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Wadephul planned to travel on from Colombia to Bolivia for talks with the newly elected government.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the minister is scheduled to attend a meeting in Canada with his counterparts from the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations.<\/p>\n
Germany’s fleet of government aircraft have become something of a punchline after encountering numerous technical issues in recent years.<\/p>\n
Wadephul’s predecessor, Annalena Baerbock, was once left stranded in Abu Dhabi and had to cancel a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji when problems occurred on her government plane.<\/p>\n
Baerbock had to abort the flight in August 2023 after the landing flaps of an official government Airbus A340 failed to retract after take-off during a refuelling stop in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
The same error occurred on a subsequent attempt, leading Baerbock to abandon the trip and return to Germany on a scheduled flight.<\/p>\n
She later made up for the aborted visit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n