A plane carrying Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Brasilia on Tuesday landed safely at Mexico City’s Felipe Ángeles airport after flying over the country’s capital for several hours due to a technical problem.
The Brazilian air force confirmed that the aircraft, an Airbus A319, landed safely at 7:16 p.m. local time, after flying over the airport for four hours.
“We landed and everyone is fine,” Brazilian press secretary José Chrispiniano said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The plane had departed Tuesday afternoon after the inauguration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, but suffered a technical problem after taking off from Mexico City. The Brazilian air force said in a statement that the aircraft had to consume enough fuel to be allowed to land safely.
It touched down almost five hours after takeoff.
Lula had planned to board another plane to return to Brasilia.
The Brazilian air force added that “safety procedures for the problem” were successfully implemented, but pilots must “wait for enough fuel to be consumed for the plane to return to the same airport from which it took off.”
A source traveling on the plane said Lula remained calm but worried throughout the flight, which had 16 people on board, including first lady Rosângela Lula da Silva, cabinet members, lawmakers and crew members.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Lula arrived in Mexico on Sunday and held a meeting with the now former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He left for Brazil after attending Sheinbaum’s inauguration on Tuesday morning.
The commercial airport was built on a military base at the direction of López Obrador after he canceled the project for an airport that was already partially built and was closer to the capital. Foreign dignitaries, such as American first lady Jill Biden, arrived at that airport to attend Sheinbaum’s inauguration.
The Brazilian press reported that members of Lula’s staff who were traveling aboard the plane believe the problem may have been due to a bird strike. Two of the staff members did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Aviation experts have said landing protocol after a bird strike requires pilots to fly near an airport while burning gasoline.
In January, a plane carrying Lula’s security team was unable to take off due to a technical failure during a trip to the state of Paraíba, in northeastern Brazil. Brazil’s presidency said after the incident that staff members were not at risk.
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