Last week, Rome hosted the G20 summit. And here are some of the most interesting visitors to Rome Fiumicino airport.
As already reported in detail, the presence of many Heads of State, Prime Ministers and authorities at the G20 held in Rome last week required the Italian Air Force to deploy a contingent of Eurofighter Typhoons supported by KC-767 and KC-130J tankers, MQ-9 Predator, P-72A, G.550 CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) to ensure the security of the summit.
While ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) aircraft monitored suspicious activities around the summit venues and and followed the various “convoys” through the city, the Italian fighters in CAP (Combat Air Patrol) enforced an ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) and a NFZ (No-Fly Zone) that were also established to ensure the safe arrival and (a couple of days later) the departure of the various VIPs and their accompanying delegations flights.
US Presidential motorcade as seen from an MQ-9. Nice shots of the Rome G20 summit released by the Italian AF. Last one shows P-72A MSO (Mission System Operator) in front of MOC (Multifunction Operator Console) working on the EO sensors. Some details: https://t.co/M25gA2sv7X pic.twitter.com/PYyFOupQN2
— David Cenciotti (@cencio4) November 3, 2021
All the State Flights and a number of supporting military ones could be spotted operating at the two main airports serving Italy’s capital, Rome Fiumicino and Rome Ciampino. The only exception were the U.S. Air Force C-17s carrying the support material for President Biden’s motorcade that operated from Pratica di Mare Air Base, a military airfield located a few km to the southeast of Fiumicino, where the Air Force One VC-25A and the accompanying SAM46 C-32A landed.
Here below you can find some of the most interesting aircraft that visited Rome Fiumicino airport during the G20 (by the way, needless to say, most of these were also visible on flight tracking websites), shot by our contributors Giovanni Maduli and Matteo Buono. Other really interesting aircraft that arrived at “Fiume” (as Rome Fiumicino airport is dubbed in pilot’s slang), but are not included in the gallery below, were the Indian B777, the German Air Force A319, the Turkish A330, the UK Government new A321neoLR (G-XATW) and the Argentinian A330. On the other hand, the Spanish Air Force A310, the Slovenian MoD F2TH as well as the French Air Force Dassault Falcon 7X jets landed at Ciampino airport.
