Related videos:
The official aircraft transporting the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, had to make an unplanned landing in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, on Sunday after a technical failure was detected during the flight to Yerevan, Armenia, as reported by the State Secretariat for Communication.
The aircraft, a Airbus A310 of the Spanish Air Force, had taken off from the Torrejón de Ardoz airbase in Madrid shortly before four in the afternoon, headed for the Armenian capital, where Sánchez was to participate in the 8th Summit of the European Political Community.
Government sources cited by the EFE Agency indicated that the incident "was not serious, but it necessitated the activation of the established security protocol for such cases."
The onboard staff adhered to the guidelines and it was decided to land preventively in Ankara, which required a reorganization of the president's schedule, who will spend the night in the Turkish capital.
The Secretary of State for Communication confirmed that Sánchez is expected to resume the trip this Monday, once the issues with the aircraft have been resolved.
The head of the Spanish Government had been invited by the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinian, to attend the summit held under the slogan Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe.
The event brings together nearly fifty European leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament; Emmanuel Macron, and Keir Starmer.
It is also the first summit of the European Political Community held in the South Caucasus and the first with participation from Canada, represented by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Once in Yerevan, Sánchez is scheduled to officially greet Pashinian, participate in the plenary session of the European Political Community, and take part in the roundtable on democratic resilience and hybrid threats.
The incident this Sunday is not the first to affect the official flights of the Spanish president.
In September 2025, while Sánchez was heading to Paris on a Falcon 900, a risk of cabin depressurization forced him to return to Madrid, preventing him from attending a meeting of the Coalition of Volunteers for Ukraine in person.
In March 2024, another Falcon 900 experienced a likely cabin depressurization while the president was traveling with his family to Doñana, in Huelva, and had to make an emergency landing in Torrejón de Ardoz.
The official Spanish fleet of the 45th Air Forces Group, based in Torrejón de Ardoz, consists of seven aircraft —two Airbus A310 and five Falcon 900— which have a structural age of over 40 years, although they undergo continuous maintenance and parts replacement.
As Infobae pointed out, "the aircraft of 45 Group have accumulated over 40 years of flights, which would immediately render them out of service in a commercial airline."
None of the incidents recorded so far on presidential flights have been considered serious by the Spanish authorities.
Filed under: