King Juan Carlos delayed by plane problems on Middle East trip

It ain't exactly Airforce One it seems. King Juan Carlos of Spain was delayed after a visit to the Middle East on Wednesday, after the military Airbus A310 he was traveling in had engine problems. 

Apparently this is the fifth time there have been problems with Royal and/or Governmental air transportation in recent months.

King Juan Carlos  was on a business trip to the UAE and Kuwait at the time and was delayed for an hour due to an engine fault.

It isn't always the same plane causing the problems, however. The five similar incidents have involved the Airbus A310 as well as Falcon 900 planes which are regularly used to fly the blue bloods and various Spanish politicos around, all giving problems within last five months.

Queen Sofia experienced problems in late March after army pilots needed to make an unscheduled stop in the Dominican Republic due to an engine problem while returning from Guatemala.

In the same month, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was traveling back home from Dublin when the plane was forced to turn back with unspecified problems. He should have flown Ryanair (hey, apparently the UK's David Cameron did when flying to the Canary Islands on holiday recently, whoop-de-doo.).

Back in January, the plane carrying Crown Prince Felipe along with members of the Spanish Government had to divert to the Dominican Republic due to an oil leak.

It makes one wonder whether Rajoy's austerity measures have gone a tad too far and are now affecting Royal transportation, or possibly the Royal family has a secret yen for the Dominican Republic and all its delights?

Anyhow, according to the media the Ministry of Defence in Spain is planning a possible upgrade of the aircraft used to ferry members of Spain's top echelon around in the future. 

20 Minutos reported a couple of months back that the Airbus A310 was bought second-hand by former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, so definitely needs an upgrade, as he has been out of power for what, ten years now?