American Airlines sent a plane from the US to Italy that was too big for its destination airport and wasn't allowed to land
A transatlantic American Airlines flight diverted, and passengers were transported by bus, after the carrier seemingly sent a plane that was too big for its destination.
Monday's Flight 780 departed Philadelphia at 7:42 p.m. and was supposed to land in Naples, Italy, at 10 a.m. local time.
However, data from Flightradar24 shows how seven hours later, the Boeing 787-9 abruptly turned around over the Tyrrhenian Sea, west of the Italian mainland.
It was only about 70 miles away from Naples International Airport before it diverted north to Rome Fiumicino Airport.
An American Airlines spokesperson told Business Insider that the flight diverted due to "operational limitations."
Historical flight data shows that the airline usually sends a Boeing 787-8 on flights to Naples.
While these two Dreamliner variants are pretty similar, with the same wingspan, the 787-9 is actually 20 feet longer.
Documents from Boeing and the International Civil Aviation Organization show how this means the two planes have different requirements for rescue-and-firefighting services (RFFS).
The 787-8 is small enough to land at an airport with a Category 8 RFFS, but the 787-9 needs a Category 9 RFFS airport.
Data from AviationWeek's Acukwik indicates that Naples Airport falls under the former classification.
Aviation enthusiast @xJonNYC, who first shared the incident on X, reported that the airport authority said 787-9 planes can't land in Naples.
The Naples and Rome airport authorities didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent by BI outside Italian working hours.
After landing at Rome Fiumicino Airport around 9:45 a.m., passengers were transported to Naples by bus, the airline spokesperson told BI.
"We apologize to them for this disruption to their journey," they added.
The two airports are around 145 miles away by road, which would take more than two hours.
Meanwhile, the 787-9 departed Rome two-and-a-half hours later, operating Flight 111 to Chicago, per Flightradar24.
This wasn't the only time this week that a diversion forced passengers to travel the remainder of their journey by bus.
On Wednesday, a Ryanair flight diverted after a thunderstorm caused severe turbulence that injured eight people, three of whom were taken to a local hospital.
Passengers were put on a bus from Memmingen, Germany, to Milan, a roughly four-and-a-half-hour journey.
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