The trip of the foreign minister of Germany Annalena Burbok in the Gulf was marked by technical problems with the aircraft he traveled on, which is operated and maintained by the Air Force.

Yesterday Wednesday it was unable to return to Berlin from the emirate of Qatar because one of the tires on the landing gear burst. Ms Burbock is expected in Germany today.

The aircraft encountered a technical problem, according to a representative of German diplomacy. The Luftwaffe clarified that one of the system’s tires was punctured. Technicians would not be able to replace it with any type of tire as it would not be a safe landing.

The “special model” tire was “not available” in Qatar and therefore a “replacement from Germany” was to be sent, the German air force clarified via Twitter.

Already on Monday Mrs Burbok arrived two hours late in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, due to a technical problem.

She is not exactly the first German official to see her program upended by problems with Luftwaffe planes.

In November 2018, a German Air Force Airbus named Konrad Adenauer had to return to Germany while transporting then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and then-Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf to Buenos Aires to attend the G20 summit Soltz, due to breakdown.

In October 2018, rodents chewed through some of the wiring on the same aircraft in Indonesia.

While in December 2016, then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen saw her trip to Mali interrupted due to a computer problem on the Airbus A340 carrying her.