German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock

Plane fault scuppers German foreign minister's Sydney trip

She was left stranded in Abu Dhabi after the 23-year-old Airbus A340-300 had repeated wing flap problems.

"This is beyond annoying," the minister wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Germany may enjoy a reputation for efficiency, but its government planes are notoriously unreliable.

In 2018 the same Airbus plane had a technical fault which forced the then Chancellor Angela Merkel to miss the opening of a G20 summit in Argentina.