Air Transports of Heads of State and Government - Vatican

Vatican

Typically, the Pope flies on a chartered Alitalia fixed-wing aircraft when travelling to or from more distant destinations. The tradition is for the Pope to fly to the country he is visiting on a chartered Alitalia jet and to return on a jet belonging to a flag carrier from the visited nation. But when touring multiple nations this could turn odd. For example, when Pope John Paul II visited South America in May 1988, he came to Paraguay from Peru in an AeroPerú DC-8, but left Asunción International Airport back to Europe in a transcontinental Alitalia Boeing 747, which was brought in just hours before his farewell ceremony. Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas' longest-range aircraft at the time were Boeing 707-320Bs, which had to stop in Dakar to refuel. However, he politely traveled within the country in a LAP jet, which incidentally carried the distinguished visitor's coat of arms in the forward fuselage as courtesy. Inspired by both a biblical verse and the name of the aircraft used by the President of the United States, the Americans nicknamed the Pope's aircraft "Shepherd One" after Pope Benedict XVI's visit to New York and Washington in 2008. The call sign of a papal flight within Italy is "volo papale" ("papal flight" in Italian) followed by the number of flights the pope has made. Pope John Paul II made 104 papal flights. Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome from Brazil on Alitalia. The pope also uses a helicopter of the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) for small distances like to Castel Gandolfo vice versa, there is a heliport on the west corner of Vatican City.