Subj : A history of PM plane problems as latest trip runs into turbulence To : All From : News Date : Mon Jun 17 2024 01:12 pm By James Ball, Digital Reporter 5:00am The NZDF Boeing 757 in which Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was due to fly to Tokyo in last night has had a long list of issues going back years. Luxon had to catch a commercial flight to Tokyo last night after the Defence Force plane blew two fuses while refuelling in Papua New Guinea - the second time he's had to do so since taking office in December. He is far from the first PM to have formal international trips disrupted, with Bill English the only leader in the last 16 years not to experience aviation issues aboard the ageing plane. New Zealand has two Boeing 757-200 jets for its political and military leaders, used for official duties and prime ministerial trips. The over 30-year-old aircraft were in commercial service for 10 years before they were purchased for the Air Force in 2003. The planes have far exceeded their intended lifespan of 20 years, although a substantial $221 million upgrade in 2008 was expected to expand this beyond 2020. In October 2016, then Prime Minister John Key was forced to cancel the first day of his trip to India after the plane transporting him and 80 other passengers broke down in northern Queensland - twice failing to take off. Key was forced to scrap a day of bilateral meetings in Mumbai, something he described at the time as "sub-optimal". "Naturally we are a little bit disappointed... particularly for the business delegation, but hopefully we can carry on with the main purpose of the trip." Key and his delegation had to stay the night in Townsville as they waited for a backup plane, doing some light promotional activity for New Zealand while they were there. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's staff pre-purchased a commercial airline flight ticket for her in 2019 in case the 757 broke down during a trip to Australia - which it did. A technical issue left the air force jet sitting on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport for a day, with a replacement air data computer - vital for flying the aircraft - flown over the Tasman to be fitted. It wouldn't the last time Ardern would suffer issues with the 757, as the plane broke down after a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden in May 2022. The ageing plane was originally going to ferry the delegation to San Francisco from which they would catch commercial flights back to New Zealand, but it ended up being a commercial flight the whole way home from Washington DC as a result of the malfunction. The planes were judged to be so unreliable during the tenure of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins that a backup plane flew in reserve alongside the Kiwi delegation to China in June 2023. The journey from Wellington to Beijing took 22 hours and required two stops in Cairns and Manila. A second Boeing 757 went as far as the Philippines capital but headed back home after the first 757 took off successfully. Then-opposition leader Christopher Luxon said he would not use Defence Force planes to travel internationally. "It's very obvious that they are unreliable," he told reporters at the time. "These are ancient aircraft. They shouldn't be flying, they're well past their use-by date." Luxon had to fly to Melbourne commercially for the ASEAN conference in March after the plane broke down before leaving the tarmac in Wellington. He was due to meet leaders of Southeast Asian nations during the summit and missed two meetings because of his late arrival. Defence Minister Judith Collins described it as "embarrassing" at the time. "A moment's embarrassment is really difficult but nothing like the fact that a lot of people are in a cost of living crisis ... we just need to get to be a richer country." Collins had brought forward the Defence Force capability review from September to June this year and would be waiting for the outcome of that before making any decisions on the fleet, she said. --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64) * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102) .