Originally Posted by
malexander131
Interesting tidbit, an AA 772 will take Pope Francis on his US tour and back to Europe. Wonder how far in advance his upgrade clears?
Of note though, apparently the Pope typically flies Alitalia out and the "national carrier" of the country he's visiting back. Wonder how AA was selected?
http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/0...e-papal-plane/
So AA/TWA apparently have a long history of carrying the Pope:
Here is a list of other instances where a pope have traveled via American:
1999: TWA: STL-Rome (Pope John Paul II) – 767-300
1995: TWA: EWR-BWI-Rome (Pope John Paul II) – 767-300
1993: American Airlines: DEN-Rome (Pope John Paul II) – 767-300ER
This aircraft is still in service today. (Flying MIA-FRA this evening.)
1987: TWA: Eleven-day, nine-city tour (Pope John Paul II) – 727 & 747
1979: TWA: Six-day, six-city tour and ADW back to Rome (Pope John Paul II) – 727
1965: TWA: Rome-JFK-Rome (Pope Paul VI) – 707
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...le-in-the-u-s/