Will the Pope's Travel Affect East Coast Air Traffic?
 

When tracking a shipment on FedEx at the top they have a notice saying: "FedEx anticipates delays and disruptions in the Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia metro areas because of the papal visit."

Wasn't really on my radar so I looked up which days he is in NY and he is due to arrive on the 24th which is when I am flying in/out to SDQ from EWR. For all the extravagance there is no Angel One private plane and apparently they hire an Alitalia charter so I'm assuming he goes to JFK.

Was curious if there are also the Air Force One airport type shutdowns for normal fliers or if it was just all the motorcade routes and things that are mucking up FedEx.

http://www.flyertalk.com/articles/ev...ing-visit.html

Yes.

I can't speak to the impacts of the Pope's visit, but Air Force One certainly causes things to grind to a halt, both on the ground and in the air. 3 times now I have been stung by the departure of Air Force One, twice on the ground, and one time in the air. For ground ops, you can be in the middle of taxiing to the runway when you get the call to not only stop, but shut off the engine. Had that 2 times now. In the air, and minutes from landing, got the same call. Spent 40 minutes in a holding pattern, was number 2 for landing, but I offered my landing slot to the King Air that was number 3, as he was getting low on fuel and was very close to diverting to his alternate. Helps that we knew each other, plus he bought me a beer that evening for my help.:)

If the USA President's plane is called 'Air Force One', what is the Pope's plane called? :)

Good one!

Honestly, I haven't looked at how the Pope is traveling on this trip. I assume he is flying in a private plane, but given his humble nature, I could see him insisting he fly coach (in a middle seat). I'm not Catholic but he seems pretty cool IMO.

From what I googled on the Vatican's own site it says that they charter an Alitalia plane that is a "regular" one, no offices or work suites and such.

I was surprised there wasn't an Angel One always on the ready.

As this is not specific to United, but will affect all NE corridor air traffic, please follow the thread to its new location, the TravelBuzz forum.

(For those concerned about the effects of the Papal visit on ground traffic, there are active threads on this in the New York City and Washington, D.C., regional forums.)

Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United and TravelBuzz.

The Vatican does not have a State aircraft. Traditionally the Pope has flown on a charter aircraft flagged by the country he is departing from. That means he's always flying Alitalia when leaving Rome but often on another carrier when returning. In this case there's no way a Cuban-flagged plane was going to be used in to the USA but I do not know what he'll fly home on.

http://www.exyuaviation.com/p/saraje...for-papal.html

Shepherd One

As he drives in the Popemobile, he should fly in the Popeplane.

its ridiculous that they make all planes stop when af1 takes off or lands.

Ever been in China? The military closes the airspace whenever they feel like it, not even necessary to have a VIP starting/landing.

From what I've seen, his flights are often coded as AZ 4000
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/az4000/

A colleague called it Pope Force One just now. :)

And he flew an Alitalia A330-200 to DC today. It's registered to Cayenne Aviation, a leasing company in Ireland. Tail EI-EJG.

And, keeping with tradition, he'll fly a US-flagged plane for the rest of the trip. In this case that's an AA 777.