Engine damaged? Problems on take-off - new Federal Council jet grounded

The Bombardier Global 7500 has only been in service since this year - and there are already problems with the CHF 109 million federal jet, as Ignazio Cassis has now learned.

There were problems with the acceleration of the new Federal Council jet during take-off in the Turkish capital Ankara. Although the flight with Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on board was able to continue, the jet will remain in Antalya for the time being. Cassis met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan there.

The crew discovered the irregularity during the take-off of the new Bombardier Global 7500 from Ankara to Antalya, as the Swiss Armed Forces announced on Saturday afternoon. Cassis and his team then reached their destination safely and without further incident.

Analysis of the flight data later revealed that there had been a "brief power reduction on one of the engines" during take-off. The reason for this was initially unknown. The cause is now being investigated "in detail" in cooperation with Bombardier.

For safety reasons, the Federal Air Transport Service (LTDB) has decided to send a replacement aircraft to Antalya for the return flight to Switzerland, it added. The Swiss delegation will now be brought back by a Falcon 900.

The new Federal Council jet from Bombardier has been in service since February. It replaced the 23-year-old Cessna Citation Excel 560XL in the air transport service's fleet. The aircraft has 19 seats. With a range of 13,000 kilometers, the Bombardier can fly almost twice as far as its Cessna predecessor.

Friendship treaty and diplomacy forum

Mr. Cassis travelled to Turkey on Friday. In Ankara, he celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the friendship treaty between Switzerland and Turkey. Among other things, he opened an exhibition by Swiss writer and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach.

The Federal Councillor then traveled on to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. It was on this flight that an irregularity occurred.

As planned, the Swiss Foreign Minister met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in the Mediterranean city on Saturday. They discussed the situation in Syria and the Middle East, the urgent need for a ceasefire in Ukraine and Gaza and the European security architecture, as the Ticino native wrote on X. And he added that he was looking forward to closer cooperation next year, when Switzerland holds the chairmanship of the OSCE.