WASHINGTON – Donald Trump finally left for Davos after Air Force One was forced into a sudden mid-air U-turn on Tuesday night due to an on-board electrical issue that plunged part of the aircraft into darkness.
The president will head to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he’ll meet with several European leaders whom he’s spent the last weeks clashing with over his attempts to acquire Greenland.
The modified Boeing 747-200B was less than an hour into its transatlantic flight to the World Economic Forum in Davos when the crew made the call to abort the journey and head back towards the United States.
Moments after takeoff from the East Coast, the lights in the press cabin went out, prompting the aircraft to turn around and return to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Trump boarded another aircraft, an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used by the president for domestic trips to smaller airports, and continued on with his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos shortly after midnight.
Air Force One is used to designate any Air Force aircraft carrying the president.
White House officials addressed the scare, saying the decision was taken out of an ‘abundance of caution’ and stressing the electrical problem was minor.
One of the aircrafts underwent scheduled maintenance on January 9, though it’s unclear if it’s the one the president initially flew on.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a joke on the flight about the jet Trump had been gifted by Qatar sounding ‘much better’ right now.
Members of the Trump administration on the plane included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Advisor Stephen Miller, Leavitt, Communications Director Stephen Chung and Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley.
The plane was expected to land in Zurich, with Trump then helicoptering to Davos, the mountain town hosting the annual gathering of billionaires.
‘‘This will be an interesting trip,’’ Trump told reporters as he left the White House. ‘‘I have no idea what´s going to happen, but you are well represented.’’
The president’s first scheduled event in Davos doesn’t took place around 2pm local time, about 5am ET.
He heads there as relations between the larger European nations have been strained over Trump’s chase for Greenland. Trump threatened to hit France with a 200 per cent tariff on champagne and wine on Monday night before leaking a text message from President Emmanuel Macron that said ‘I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland’.
Trump has already suggested imposing France and several other European nations with tariffs for opposing his actions in Greenland.
Macron has pushed for the EU to threaten tariffs on US$107.7 billion worth of goods and potentially even block American access to the market.
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