Antony Blinken, Notorious Boeing Lover, Stranded After Davos

A “critical” issue with a Boeing aircraft grounded Antony Blinken in Switzerland after his time at Davos. The irony: Blinken used to advise Boeing through his consulting firm, and his State Department has been very friendly to the company.

Day Two Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, during a conversation session on day two of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, 2024. (Hollie Adams / Bloomberg via Getty Images)


US secretary of state Antony Blinken was reportedly stranded at a global elite conference by a malfunctioning aircraft from Boeing, his former corporate client.

On his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday — where Blinken spent several days mingling with the global business elite — he boarded a Boeing 737 in Zurich, according to Bloomberg. But a “critical” issue with the aircraft instead grounded the secretary of state in Switzerland, and he was reportedly forced to fly home on a smaller jet.

The reported failure of the plane’s oxygen system is the third high-profile failure of a Boeing aircraft in the last two weeks, after a door plug blew out of an airliner over Portland, Oregon, on January 5 and then a Boeing 737-800 plane in Japan aborted a flight on January 13 after crewmembers found a crack in the cockpit window. Airlines have since reported finding loose bolts on other Boeing 737 MAX planes.

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