The government plane carrying Baerbock was scheduled to land in the Australian capital of Canberra on Monday, with the official program of the week-long visit set to begin on Tuesday morning. After visiting Australia, the minister was also expected to visit New Zealand and Fiji.
On Monday morning, three minutes after taking off from a refueling stop in Abu Dhabi, the plane's crew reported a flap extension malfunction and had to return to the city, the report said.
"Due to a mechanical malfunction, we were forced to return to Abu Dhabi for safety reasons," the German Foreign Ministry spokesperson on board the plane was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
To land safely in Abu Dhabi, the plane had to burn most of its fuel by circling for about two hours. It landed safely at 05:33 local time (01:33 GMT), the media added. In order to resume the flight, the crew will have to determine if all the problems can be fixed with on-board resources or if spare parts are needed. The newspaper also noted that the minister was unlikely to continue her trip until Tuesday because the plane's crew need a rest.
In May, during her three-day visit to the Arabian Gulf countries, Baerbock had to alter her schedule twice in three days due to governmental aircraft malfunctions. First, one plane broke down just before a flight to the Saudi city of Jeddah, forcing a change of planes, then the second plane broke down in Qatar, delaying the minister's departure by a day.