Lula’s flight lands in Brasilia after technical problem with presidential plane

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) returned to Brazil this Wednesday morning (2) after the presidential plane faced technical problems during the flight back from Mexico City and was replaced by a reserve aircraft.

The flight landed in Brasília at 10:12 am after almost 17 hours of travel, longer than initially planned for a journey without unforeseen events. The flight was expected to last around 10 hours under normal conditions.

Takeoff from Felipe Ángeles International Airport, in Mexico City, took place at 5:30 pm on Tuesday (Brasília time), but the aircraft had to abort the route due to a technical problem.

The presidential plane spent around five hours flying over the airport area to consume fuel and be able to return to the terminal safely. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) confirmed the problem, but did not release details about the failure.

“Having successfully carried out the safety procedures to solve the problem presented, the pilots wait for the necessary fuel consumption to return to the same aerodrome as the take-off, changing aircraft and returning to Brasília”, stated the Air Force in a note while the first plane was still in the air.

After landing at 10:16 pm (Brasília time), Lula and his entourage, which included First Lady Janja da Silva, were transferred to a reserve FAB plane, used by the “Escalão Avançado”, a team that organizes presidential trips and advisors . The new takeoff took place shortly after 11:30 pm, with a stopover in Panama, and the trip to Brasília lasted around 10 hours.

The official statement about what happened was signed by the Air Force commander, Air Lieutenant Brigadier Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno. Lula was in Mexico to participate in the inauguration ceremony of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Due to the delay in returning to Brazil, the president’s official agenda has no appointments scheduled for this Wednesday (2). It was expected that he would meet with Minister Wellington Dias (Social Development) to discuss the ban on the use of the Bolsa Família card for online betting, but the meeting should only take place on Thursday (3). Until the closing of this report, Lula’s agenda had no appointments for the day.

The presidential aircraft, known as “Aerolula”, is an Airbus ACJ-319, acquired during Lula’s first term to replace the old Boeing 707, nicknamed “sucatão”. Last year, the president asked the FAB to evaluate the purchase of a new aircraft with greater flight range.