“Folks, this is your captain speaking. I’m sorry to say, we unfortunately need to divert, as we realized the plane we’ve been flying across the Atlantic all night isn’t actually authorized to land at our destination airport…” That’s gotta be awkward, but that’s basically what happened, per a fascinating scoop by @xJonNYC.
Naples-bound American 787 diverts to Rome
American operates a seasonal daily flight between Philadelphia (PHL) and Naples (NAP), AA780, operated by a Boeing 787-8. On Monday, June 2, 2025, the airline needed to swap in a 787-9 instead, with the registration code N837AN. There are all kinds of operational reasons that could cause an aircraft swap, and it wasn’t supposed to be an issue, since it’s just a slightly larger variant.
The flight departed Philadelphia more or less on schedule, at 7:42PM. The eight hour flight operated more or less as usual, until the aircraft started its descent.
At that point, the crew changed course, and instead flew toward Rome (FCO), located 124 miles away. The weather in Naples was perfectly nice, and no other flights diverted. So, what was the issue?
Well, apparently the Boeing 787-9 wasn’t authorized to land in Naples, per the airport authority, and as reported by @xJonNYC. Man, talk about a rough reason for a diversion.
Why would a 787-8 be allowed, but not a 787-9? While the difference between the jets is marginal, clearly this exceeded some airport or operational limit, perhaps given the airport’s challenging terrain. Regardless of what the exact reason was, we know that the plane not being authorized was the cause of this.
American’s Italian 787-8 & 787-9 switcheroo
With a Naples-bound Boeing 787-9 in Rome, how did American recover from this situation? Well, the airline acted fast, and seemed to handle this pretty well. American operates a seasonal daily Rome to Chicago flight with a Boeing 787-8, so American swapped in the Boeing 787-9 for that flight, so that it could free up the 787-8 with the registration code N880BJ to instead operate the Naples flight.
However, this was a bit complicated, given maximum duty hours for crews. American didn’t have a practical way to then fly the 787-8 to Naples the same day, after the diversion. So the crew overnighted there, and then flew to Naples the following day. On June 4, American operated a 38-minute 787-8 flight from Rome to Naples, and then the same afternoon, that plane continued from Naples to Philadelphia.
It’s not entirely clear if the passengers on the original transatlantic flight were put in hotels in Rome and then flown on that repositioning flight, or if they got to Naples the same day (via train, other airline, etc.).
Bottom line
An American flight from Philadelphia to Naples was “upgraded” from a 787-8 to a 787-9 at the last minute. However, unbeknownst to the airline, the 787-9 wasn’t actually authorized to land in Naples. As a result, the flight had to divert to Rome. American then swapped a 787-8 that was supposed to fly from Rome to Chicago with the 787-9 that had to divert, which minimized the disruptions.
Man, what a rough mistake to make. I wonder if this should’ve been obvious to American’s operations folks, or if it was due to some very specific condition (like specific weather factors).
What do you make of this American 787 diversion incident?
