A mechanical problem prevented the papal plane from taking off as planned from Tenerife airport on Friday, June 12, to return to Rome. We share the account of the incident experienced from the inside by our special correspondent on board the papal plane.
“Tenerife is no longer responding,” and this incident will go down in the history of papal travels. Flight IB 1477, chartered by the Spanish airline Iberia, was due to depart at 3.20 pm local time (4.20 pm Rome time) from Tenerife Airport in the Canary Islands, for a 4-hour, 40-minute flight to Rome's Fiumicino Airport, thus bringing to an end a seven-day trip to Spain. On board the aircraft were Pope Leo XIV, his delegation, and 80 journalists, eagerly anticipating the chance to ask the Pope a few questions during the traditional press conferences that usually conclude the Pontiff’s international trips.
As the Mass at the port of Tenerife had taken longer than expected and the meeting with King Felipe VI had run slightly over time, the flight on this Airbus A320 was already set to depart nearly an hour late when a few rounds of applause from the Pope’s entourage signalled his arrival on board. The mood is generally cheerful and his security officers looked relaxed -- satisfied that the mission has been accomplished without incident.
It is 4.24 pm when the captain announces, in a matter-of-fact tone, that the flight is delayed due to a technical issue. Five minutes later, a wave of emotion swept through the aircraft as the cabin crew closed the curtain separating the first-class section – where the Pope and his delegation were seated – from the press, in order to preserve the privacy of a unique moment: “The King has boarded,” exclaimed some Spanish journalists who had recognised their sovereign.
In fact, Felipe VI, a few minutes after taking his leave of the pontiff, had returned to invite the Pope disembark again. So at around 4.30 pm, the Pope returned to the airport tarmac, and thus to Spanish soil. “Does this count as a second visit to Spain?” chuckled some seasoned Vatican correspondents. On board the plane, there was far more amusement than concern, even among the officials. A few minutes later, this strange announcement rang out: “Passengers, this is the captain speaking. Our maintenance team has suggested towing the aircraft to face it against the wind and attempting to restart the engine, as the failure may have been caused by a slight tailwind.”
A historic first
With the Pope and the cardinals off the plane, the aircraft was towed into a different position. The sounds of maintenance work could be heard ... but no luck. Throughout these maneuvers, amid cheerful chaos, broadcast journalists bring out their equipment to provide live coverage of this technical glitch, which becomes a news story and even a historic moment. The most seasoned Vatican correspondents are asked about previous incidents that have occurred during papal trips.
Never before had a technical fault led to the cancellation of a papal flight. However, some recall memories linked to dangerous weather conditions. These cases date back to the pontificate of John Paul II, including a stopover planned for 1984 in Fort Simpson, Canada, which was postponed until 1987. Then February 11, 1986: his plane returning from an apostolic journey to India met a snowstorm and was forced to land in Naples. A special three-carriage train was then chartered by the Italian railway company, enabling the pontiff and the papal entourage to reach Rome.
There was another incident in 1990, when John Paul II's plane en-route to Tanzania had to land in Malta.
Another time brought complex diplomatic implications: September 14, 1988. Due to a storm, the plane carrying John Paul II from Zimbabwe to Lesotho was forced to land in Johannesburg, South Africa, a country the Polish pope had deliberately excluded from his tour of southern Africa because of its apartheid policy. The Pope was forced to have lunch at the airport with the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha, and had to accept an escort from this ostracised regime to reach neighbouring Lesotho. He would return to South Africa, this time in an entirely official capacity, in 1995 under the presidency of Nelson Mandela.
There was, however, no diplomatic tension in Spain in 2026: the king graciously made his private jet, a Spanish Air Force Falcon, available to the Pope to enable him to return to Rome without wasting too much time. The papal flight, carrying his closest aides, took off at 6.08 pm. As for the journalists, they were looked after by Iberia in an airport lounge while waiting for a plane sent by the airline from Madrid, 2,000 kilometers (some 1,250 miles) away, to arrive in Tenerife and take them back to Rome.
Nevertheless, apart from this minor incident, the great success of this papal visit to Spain was evident throughout the events that unfolded in Madrid, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands. “The bar has been set very high for the French … They’re going to have to work hard,” remarked a Vatican diplomat with a smile as he boarded the papal plane. The Pope’s visit to France next September will indeed be a challenge both ecclesiastically and logistically. But in terms of transport, it is likely that Air France will pay particular attention to the maintenance of the aircraft made available to the Pope.
