Pope Leo XIV rode aboard the Spanish royal jet for his return flight to Rome on Friday, a change of plans made after the plane he had already boarded was grounded due to a technical issue. Source: Crux.
The Pope was already running an hour behind schedule when his plane’s departure was further delayed by the technical issue.
Leo had just concluded a brief meeting with King Felipe VI of Spain at Tenerife Norte-Los Rodeos International Airport.
Leo left the faulty plane and was escorted to a private room at the airport, where he waited with the king while technicians worked to resolve an engine issue.
After a failed attempt to resolve the issue, the captain announced that “our tech crew is waiting to fix the issue, but it will take time to completely resolve.” Journalists and the papal delegation were asked to disembark the plane.
The king then offered the Pope the Spanish royal jet for the return flight.
While rare, unexpected tech problems and weather issues on papal flights are not unprecedented.
In 1990, while St John Paul II was en route to Tanzania, his plane experienced what was described as a mechanical failure and was forced to make an emergency landing in Malta.
On September 14, 1988, as St John Paul II was flying from Botswana to Lesotho aboard an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 707, severe storms struck and knocked out navigational beacons, forcing the plane carrying the pontiff to divert to Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In February 1986, as John Paul was returning from India, he was forced to make an emergency landing in Naples due to a rare but heavy snowstorm, which rendered Rome’s airports temporarily unusable.
Rather than wait for the adverse weather to clear, John Paul instead landed in Naples and took an overnight train to Rome.
The captain of Pope Leo’s Iberia flight gave no indication of what timeframe was expected to resolve the plane’s motor troubles.
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Pope returns to Rome on Spanish royal jet after tech issue grounds plane (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
