A man who sat next to Angela Merkel on a commercial flight has shared his impressions of the German chancellor. Merkel was forced to take an Iberia Airlines flight after her government plane had problems.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
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A man traveling from Madrid to Buenos Aires got a big surprise when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her entourage boarded his Iberia Airlines flight minutes before takeoff.
Agustin Aguero sat next to Merkel in business class during the approximately 13-hour flight that took the chancellor to the G20 summit, where she arrived late due to technical problems on the German military plane that was to have taken her to Argentina. The plane problem forced Merkel to take a commercial flight via Madrid after staying at a hotel in Bonn on Thursday night.
Aguero posted pictures on Twitter of himself sitting next to Merkel.
The 28-year-old told Germany's DPA news agency that he had not expected the most powerful woman in the world to be a normal person.
"She ate yogurt, read a book and slept a little bit," Aguero said. She had no special requests, he explained.
An hour before landing, the chancellor went to the cockpit and took a picture with the crew. "I didn't dare speak to her. But she looked over and smiled a few times. She was very relaxed," Aguero said.
Merkel and her entourage exited the plane before the other passengers and made it to a G20 evening gala with other world leaders.
Meals at the G20 tend to be better than airline yogurtImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Bundesregierung/G. Bergmann
Grounded: Problems with Germany's government planes
Germany's government Airbus planes have experienced several issues over the past few months. The latest difficulty prevented Chancellor Angela Merkel from showing up on time for the G20 summit in Argentina.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Late to G20 summit
While en route to a G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November 2018, the A340-300 "Konrad Adenauer" carrying German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz had to make an unexpected landing at the Cologne/Bonn Airport. Merkel showed up late to the conference in the Argentinian capital.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Rodents? You're kidding right?
It was the second consecutive month in which the "Konrad Adenauer" needed to be grounded. The A340 also left Scholz stranded in Indonesia following a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in October 2018 after rodents gnawed through electric cables.
Image: Imago/photothek
Trouble in Africa
The "Konrad Adenauer" isn't the only Airbus belonging to the German government that has experienced problems. The A340 "Theodor Heuss" jet carrying German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier experienced technical problems during his trip to several countries in Africa.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Tell them I'll be late
Steinmeier also had his fair share of woes with the "Konrad Adenauer" jet. The German president's trip to Belarus in June 2018 was delayed due to problems with the plane's hydraulic system.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Carstensen
Pressure starts to tell
German Development Minister Gerd Müller's schedule was thrown into chaos when he was forced to cancel a visit to Namibia in January 2018 — because of plane trouble. Müller was scheduled to depart Malawi when his Bombardier Global 5000 was unable to take off due to a defective pressure valve. He was eventually able to continue on to Zambia on a commercial flight.
Image: imago/U. Grabowsky
I hear it's snowing at home
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was grounded in Ethiopia yet again when the "Theodore Heuss" was unable to embark on its return flight due to an air pressure problem. The delay would seem to put Steinmeier ahead of Olaf Scholz for the title of German official most often stranded due to technical problems.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
Foreign minister stranded in Mali
On February 28, 2019, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was forced to stay overnight in the capital of Mali, Bamako, after his government plane had a mechanical problem. Maas strugged off the delay, saying he had traveled all over the world without a problem.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
The "Konrad Adenauer" strikes back with a burst tire
On April 1, 2019, the "Konrad Adenauer" hit back after a four-month overhaul. The ageing Airbus behaved badly on its first outing after its forced hiatus. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was on board when one of the tire's burst upon landing in New York. The plane had to be towed to a parking space, with the delay forcing Maas to miss an appointment at the UN Security Council.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Crash landing
Also in April 2019, a Bombardier Global 5000 was severely damaged in an emergency landing after problems during a test flight. Pilots lost control of the plane shortly after take off and when attempting to land, where it jolted off the runway. The flight was a test flight after weeks of maintenance on the aircraft.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Russ
Maas delayed again
In May, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was delayed for a third time after engine trouble struck the Bundeswehr A321 he was travelling on for his first trip to Bulgaria. The plane's pilot blamed the failure of an auxiliary turbine, which supplies compressed air to the plane's engines, for the tardiness.
