US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Boeing jet has been grounded after experiencing a mechanical failure during an overseas trip.
Blinken and other State Department officials were forced to abandon the aircraft on Wednesday and drive about 190 miles from Paris to Brussels, Belgium, to attend a NATO summit.
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The Air Force C-40 jet, a modified government version of the Boeing 737 used for commercial flights, experienced an unspecific issue, according to the State Department.
Blinken and several government officials are in Europe to discuss the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The US diplomat met with French President Emmanuel Macron and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on Tuesday.
Blinken and his team arrived at the summit late but without incident, according to Bloomberg.
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The latest hiccup was the second time Blinken experienced issues with a Boeing jet while traveling.
In January, when Blinken was scheduled to return from Switzerland, the same model plane suffered a critical failure related to an oxygen leak, according to CNN.
The US secretary of state had to fly home in a smaller jet as a result.
BOEING CRISIS
Boeing has been under fire in recent months since the January 5 incident when a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight blew off the 737 Max aircraft mid-flight.
Shocking photos from inside showed a gaping hole on the side of the plane, which landed safely without any significant injuries to its passengers.
A preliminary investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane left a Boeing factory in October 2023 without four bolts that were essential to keeping the door plug in place.
The findings forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft equipped with the same door panel.
Boeing and Alaska Airlines are facing several lawsuits related to the January incident – with more expected.
In early March, a tire fell off a packed Boeing aircraft during takeoff.
The United Airlines flight took from San Francisco Airport en route to Osaka, Japan, when the tire came off, forcing the aircraft to land at Los Angeles International Airport.
Shocking video taken minutes after the flight’s takeoff showed the plane losing one of its six tires on its left-side main landing gear assembly.
Video from the ground showed a row of vehicles parked at the San Francisco Airport parking lot that were damaged by the falling tire.
The flight was carrying 235 passengers, 10 flight attendants, and four pilots, United Airlines said at the time.
Questions remain as aviation officials continue to investigate Boeing’s practices, including quality and safety checks on its planes.
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