U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken got stranded during his trip to Davos on Wednesday when his official plane — a modified Boeing 757 — suffered a "critical" malfunction related to the aircraft's oxygen system.
Blinken had been in Switzerland to attend and participate in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum this week.
Sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with @TomFriedman during the @wef in Davos. We are living in a time where challenges are increasingly complex, but the United States is committed to engaging with our allies and partners to advance peace and stability. pic.twitter.com/5Au2THyDVp
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 17, 2024
According to Bloomberg, Blinken and Co. traveled from Davos via helicopter to reach Zurich where the official government plane set to ferry Blinken back to the U.S. was parked.
But, after boarding the modified Boeing jet, it was announced that the "aircraft had been deemed unsafe to fly" after an "oxygen leak detected previously could not be remedied."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was unable to fly home from Davos as scheduled on Wednesday due to a critical error with his aircraft https://t.co/S0ucoJ3u9H
— Bloomberg (@business) January 17, 2024
As a result of Blinken's plane being grounded, a "smaller jet was being flown from Brussels" to Zurich to pick up the stranded secretary of state, Bloomberg explained. Due to its smaller size, however, members of his entourage — including "many of his aides and members of the press pool" — will now have to "travel to Washington commercially."
Bloomberg's report noted that "faults are not uncommon on aircraft" but this "glitch comes at a difficult time for Boeing" after it "had many of its 737 Max 9 aircraft grounded by regulators" after an Alaska Airlines plane had its door plug blow out at altitude earlier this month.
More on Blinken's busted Boeing via Politico:
The modified Boeing 737 business jet Blinken uses is owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The base is home to the special airlift mission, which maintains planes secure enough to transport VIPs such as the president, vice president and cabinet secretaries.
Unlike the Boeing MAX family of aircraft at the heart of recent problems with consumer flights, the USAF’s upgraded 737-700 is known as a C-40 under its military moniker. According to the Air Force, it entered service in 2003.