The King and Queen are finally set to leave Chile, with their flight to Belgium confirmed for Saturday morning at 10:00 local time (18:00 BST), expected to arrive in Brussels on Sunday around 5:35 BST.
The royal couple, along with ministers and the entire delegation, have been in Chile for a state visit which is now drawing to a close. The return flight is confirmed to depart on Saturday morning.
The delegation had been stranded in Antofagasta since Thursday afternoon, their scheduled return day. As the plane was being towed for take-off, the towing tractor’s bar apparently broke, damaging two front landing gear wheels. With only one spare wheel available, a second wheel needed to be transported from Santiago, which arrived on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, it was confirmed that the aircraft is ready to fly.
This isn’t the first technical issue with the plane on this state visit. The departure was previously delayed by 24 hours due to another problem that grounded the aircraft.
