PM Narendra Modi’s Air India One Flight to US Skipped Frankfurt Stopover | Here’s Why

Due to the advanced aircrafts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Air India One did not made any stopover in Frankfurt, as was the case in the past.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who started his 3-day power packed visit to the United States on September 22, reached Washington on Wednesday where he was received by officials of Biden Administration & Indian envoy to US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu. However, this time, PM Modi broke a decade-long practice by not making a stopover at Frankfurt en-route to US.

The main reason for the development is the new capabilities of the Air India One. The aircrafts have the capacity to fly long distances without making the refueling stopover, which was the practice in the past. The state-of-the-art aircrafts were bought at the cost over Rs 4,500 crore. This is the second time, new Air India One is ferrying PM Modi. The first trip in the aircraft was to Bangladesh in March this year, which was a visit for a short duration of time.

PM Modi, during his visit, will hold the first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden & his deputy Kamala Harris. He will attend the maiden in-person Quad summit & address 76th session of UNGA in New York.

Before leaving for the United States, PM Modi had said that his visit would strengthen Indo-US Strategic Partnership & consolidate ties with Japan, Australia.

PM Modi’s plane left Delhi on Wednesday and used Pakistani airspace in its journey. Earlier, Pakistani PM Khan used airspace over Indian exclusive economic zone when he was on a visit to Sri Lanka.

Past History

Indian PMs’ planes have always made a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, in the past. Even PM Modi, in his last visit to the United States in 2019, had landed in Frankfurt.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plane had also made regular stopovers in Frankfurt, which provided much needed break from the long journey. It takes over 12 hours to reach the United States.