For 2021, the G7 Summit, the 47th summit meeting between the G7 group of nations, was hosted by the UK in the county of Cornwall; a quaint corner of the United Kingdom – known for its beaches, holidays and beautiful villages.
Aircraft Completion News takes a look at some of the Head-of-State jets that transported their world leaders to the G7 Summit.
Where and when did the G7 take place?
The meeting itself took place between the 11-13 June 2021, at the Carbis Bay resort with events at locations in the surrounding area and villages of Cornwall.
The region is seen as central to the UK’s green technology sector. Showing off the country’s green credentials is important to the government ahead of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November.
They meet every annually to discuss a large number of international issues and with them they bring their VIP jets; comprised of mid to large size business jets and of course some big iron.
Who are the G7 countries?
The G7 is comprised of the UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy, plus the EU
The UK also invited Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa as guest countries to this year’s G7.
Cornwall Airport Newquay
For the event a reported £7.8-million was invested into the Cornwall Newquay Airport to enable the infrastructure to be in place to support the landing of wide-body jets such as Air Force One and the services that these jets and their occupants require.
Australia
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison traveled to the UK onboard Royal Australian Air Force’s Airbus KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport, which can be used for both mid-air refueling of other planes and transportation of personnel.
The aircraft (A39-007) arrived from Perth (PER) with short stops in Singapore (SIN) and Dubai (DXB) but was unable to land at Cornwall Airport Newquay (NQY) due to thick fog. The flight was redirected to RAF Brize Norton air base (BZZ) before it could make Cornwall.
Canada
Refurbished and relivered for use March 2021, it’s fresh white-red-blue livery (itself a subject of yet another scandal) could have been seen at NQY on the eve of the summit, on June 10, 2021.
Airbus CC-150-01 Polaris started life as a regular Airbus A310, one of five aircraft acquired by the Canadian government in 1994 with CC-150-01 turned into a VVIP jet.
France
The Dassault built in France and flown by France is the aircraft of choice for the French President for a country hop.
Germany
The Airbus A321 that Angela Merkel arrived is the current mode of transport whilst the German Government await delivery of new Airbus A350-XWB aircraft for Head-of-State and VVIP duties.
Italy
The 31st wing of the Italian Air Force is responsible for transporting government officials. Its fleet is topped out by a trio of Airbus ACJ319s – business jets based on the A319. One of them (the MM62174) transported the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi to Cronwall.
The aircraft successfully landed at NQY in the morning of June 11, avoiding the hassle with rerouting other aircraft had to undergo several hours later.
Japan
The Japan Air Force uses two brand-new Boeing 777-300ERs to transport its officials, named the Japanese Air Force One (JF 001) and Japanese Air Force Two (JF 002).
South Africa
The South African presidential aircraft carrying Cyril Ramaphosa is a Boeing business jet named Inkwazi (ZS-RSA) seen on the runway at Cornwall airport.
South Korea
The Boeing 747 is also the selected aircraft of South Korea for Head of State duties.
The aircraft can be seen being towed across the apron at Cornwall Newquay Airport.
United Kingdom
The Airbus A321 decorated with a large Union Jack tail plane is leased to the UK Government and operated by Titan Airways.
Following a brief period of storage at London Stansted, Titan ferried the aircraft to ACJ in Bordeaux for cabin outfitting on November 15, 2020. It returned to the UK – first to Norwich for repainting and then to Stansted for operational use.
United States
Air Force One is one of two modified Boeing 747-200 wide-body jets outfitted for Presidential Head-of-State use.
The aircraft is pictured here arriving at Cornwall Newquay Airport.
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