The crew of Angela Merkel’s plane heading to Argentina had to use a satellite phone to plan an emergency landing after a major communications failure, it was claimed today.
The German Chancellor’s trip to the G20 was aborted as her Airbus A340 government aircraft made an un-scheduled landing at Cologne-Bonn airport.
The plane’s entire communication system malfunctioned, with the crew forced to use an on-board satellite phone to contact air traffic controllers, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
Ms Merkel called the incident a “serious malfunction” and the fire brigade was deployed for the plane’s landing, reportedly because of concerns that the braking system could overheat as it was still heavily laden with fuel.
Mrs Merkel said: “Luckily, we had an excellent crew and the most experienced pilot of the special air mission wing.”
Investigators were said to have probed whether the plane, which had taken off from Berlin, could have been sabotaged.
Security sources had said the authorities were checking whether the incident late yesterday had a “criminal background”, according to the German daily Rheinische Post.
But a spokesman for the German Air Force said there was no suspicion of any crime.
The Chancellor and German finance minister Olaf Scholz were due to resume their travel to Buenos Aires early today, via Madrid.
