Airbus rushes safety fix to Pope Leo XIV’s ‘Shepherd One’ A320neo to keep Apostolic Journey on schedule
December 1, 2025
Pope Leo XIV has embarked on his first Apostolic Journey on board an Airbus A320neo aircraft, operated by ITA Airways.
The Papal flight departed from Terminal 5 of Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport on Friday with a first stop at Ankara’s Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey before continuing to Istanbul.
Airbus sent a technician to meet the aircraft, which was among the 6,000 Airbus A320s requiring an update to address flight control risks posed by radiation from solar flares, in time for the Pope’s next stop in Beirut.
The Pope is scheduled to return to Rome on Tuesday.
From Alitalia to ITA Airways: ‘Shepherd One’ service
For more than half a century, popes have chartered aircraft operated by Italy’s flag carrier. Alitalia held that role from Pope Paul VI’s pioneering 1964 flight to Jordan until the airline’s collapse in 2021, assigning papal missions the special flight number AZ 4000.
ITA Airways, Alitalia’s successor, which is 41% owned by Lufthansa Group, has continued serving the Vatican on these special missions.
Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, who succeeded Pope Francis earlier this year, was greeted in Rome by ITA Airways Chairman Sandro Pappalardo, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Joerg Eberhart, and ITA Airways Chief Commercial Officer, as well as Volare CEO Emiliana Limosani.
The pontiff’s flight and onboard operations were supervised by Commander Riccardo Privitera, the company’s Chief of Flight Operations. The crew contingent for the Airbus A320neo operating the flight consisted of 10 members, including three pilots and seven flight attendants.
They were joined by an ITA Airways team dedicated to special flights. In addition to the papal delegation, passengers included 85 representatives of the Italian and international press who travelled with the Pope.
Ahead of the trip, the airline issued a statement saying that providing flight service for Pope Leo XIV’s first Apostolic Journey was a “deep honour,” and a “high privilege.”
“This event represents not only a moment of great spiritual significance but also a symbol of trust and closeness, reaffirming ITA Airways’ commitment to embody in the skies of the world the values of excellence, reliability, and service that define it,” the airline stated. “All the Company’s personnel share in the solemnity of this moment, which will remain a significant milestone in the history of ITA Airways.”
How the Pope’s ‘Shepherd One’ flights operate and who pays the bill
ITA Airways provides the aircraft, crews, and flight planning for papal journeys as the “papal airline.” These flights are assigned the “Shepherd One” call sign, borrowing from the Air Force One call sign used for aircraft carrying the US president.
Unlike the US president, who has specially equipped aircraft at his service, the Pope flies on regular ITA passenger aircraft that are temporarily converted into a flying Vatican. In honour of the Pope, the airline dresses the cabin in Vatican colours and adds the papal coat of arms to the fuselage.
On his first trip, Pope Leo XIV flew on an ITA Airways Airbus A320neo. The airline may assign larger Airbus A330neo widebody aircraft to longer-range papal missions or to accommodate larger entourages. The press is typically seated in economy, while the Pope and senior delegation sit in the forward cabin.
The Holy See provides its own dishes and ceremonial items but generally does not cover flight costs. The Pope’s visits are considered state visits, so the host country typically covers the bill. The press pays its own airfare when accompanying the Pope on his missions, which also helps offset the operation’s costs.
Pope Leo XIV runs into a technical on the A320neo during his first apostolic flight
Pope Leo’s first international trip as pontiff — and his first aboard ITA Airways — is a four-day journey to Türkiye and Lebanon.
The Pope’s trip coincided with a global directive issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on 28 November. The directive required an immediate update to Airbus A320-family aircraft to mitigate the risk to flight controls posed by radiation from solar flares.
The Federal Aviation Administration determined that the fault caused a sudden loss of altitude aboard a JetBlue A320 flying from Cancun to Newark, New Jersey, on 30 October. At least 15 passengers were injured during the event and sent to the hospital after the aircraft made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.
Around 6,000 Airbus aircraft worldwide were grounded or restricted after regulators and the manufacturer warned that intense solar radiation could interfere with flight-control computers.
For most jets, the fix merely required a software update — but roughly 900 aircraft, including the papal A320neo, had to have their onboard computers physically replaced.
With Pope Leo XIV due to continue his journey on Sunday, a separate aircraft was dispatched from Rome to Istanbul carrying an Airbus technician and a replacement computer specifically for the Papal jet. Once that hardware swap was completed and the aircraft cleared, the Pope got the go-ahead for the two-hour hop to Beirut.
Pope Leo XIV holds his first press conference at 30,000 feet
After resolving the technical issue of his aircraft, Pope Leo XIV held his first-ever press conference on an aeroplane while en route to Beirut. The pontiff answered press questions for ten minutes, in English and Italian.
He shared details of his conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about fostering peace and addressed press questions about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The Pope also answered questions on Israel, where he said the Holy See hoped to be “a mediating voice that can help move to a solution with justice for all.”
Pope Leo XIV carries a bat in the cabin, inspiring a meme on solving common flight problems in the ‘Chicago way’
Despite the peace talks during his first apostolic journey, Pope Leo XIV became a meme for a more hands-on approach to enforcing an agenda after a photograph of the pontiff carrying a baseball bat in the cabin was shared on X (formerly Twitter).
First Pope in history to hold a baseball bat inside an airplane pic.twitter.com/vgc7O9NH8c
— cassie 🇻🇦 (@CatholicCassie) November 28, 2025
Buzzfeed collected a few with a common theme: the Pope enforcing cabin etiquette rules.
"We're going to have a little talk about reclining your seat back into the knees of the person sitting behind you." https://t.co/qgDHdxviom
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) November 29, 2025
Others noted a similarity to a scene from the comedy classic Airplane, in which passengers line up to strike a hysterical woman, including one passenger who holds a bat.
Given the Pope’s Chicago roots, the memes included references to the classic mob movie The Untouchables in which Robert de Niro as Al Capone encourages ‘teamwork’ with the end of his baseball bat.
The world’s first American Pope was gifted the Louisville Slugger formerly owned by Chicago White Sox legend Nellie Fox by CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay, who was on the papal flight to Turkey as a member of the Vatican press corps.
It was a thoughtful gift. Nellie Fox earned his spot in the Hall of Fame as a second baseman for the Chicago White Sox during Robert Francis Prevost’s formative years in the windy city, long before his transformation to Pope Leo XIV. But the memes were inevitable.
Get all the latest commercial aviation news on AGN here.
Featured Image: Rome Reports on YouTube
