German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil was stranded in the United States after a technical defect grounded the German government’s Airbus A350 before departure from the South Carolina area following the G20 summit. A pre-flight inspection found damage to a door, apparently linked to a passenger stair vehicle, and the aircraft was held while Luftwaffe, Lufthansa Technik and Airbus examined the problem.
The delegation had been due to fly back to Germany on Tuesday, but the take-off was initially stopped and Klingbeil spent the night in a hotel. The disruption also kept him away from a cabinet meeting in Berlin where his tax legislation was due to be advanced. After several hours of checks, the aircraft was reportedly cleared to continue, but the incident underlined the operational sensitivity of the Air Force’s government transport fleet.
The aircraft involved belonged to the Bundeswehr’s flight service, which transports senior German officials on official trips. Publicly available details on the damage remained limited, but the reports consistently pointed to an unexpected technical issue discovered during routine pre-flight procedures rather than a problem arising in flight.