Secretary of State Antony Blinken was left stranded in Switzerland on Wednesday after his Boeing jet plane broke down.
Blinken had traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to attend an annual meeting for the World Economic Forum. After departing Davos and arriving in Zurich, a “mechanical issue” was reported with the aircraft, Matthew Miller, a spokesman with the State Department, confirmed to Fox News.
“There’s a mechanical issue,” Miller confirmed. “I don’t know the nature of the mechanical issue, but he is in Zurich. He was scheduled to fly back from Zurich.”
Blinken and others with him were reportedly informed an “oxygen leak” had been detected on the Boeing 737 aircraft, according to Bloomberg News.
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/KIOsXkcFr2
— Bloomberg (@business) January 17, 2024
Miller added the Air Force had a “replacement plane inbound” for Blinken.
“We expect him to be back still tonight,” Miller said. “But several hours later than originally planned.”
The “mechanical issue” with Blinken’s plane comes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft, made an emergency landing after a window section blew out mid-flight at 16,000 feet after losing a door plug.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the “temporary grounding” of more than 100 Boeing 737 Max-9 aircrafts.