American Airlines sends jet too large for Naples, diverts flight to Rome

The 787-9 needs Category 9 RFFS, but Naples Airport supports only Category 8, barring the larger jet from landing

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An American Airlines transatlantic flight bound for Naples, Italy, was forced to divert to Rome after the airline dispatched an aircraft too large for the intended airport, resulting in passengers being bused over two hours to their final destination.

Flight 780 departed Philadelphia on Monday evening at 19:42 local time, scheduled to land in Naples at 10:00 Tuesday morning. However, just 70 miles from its destination, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner veered away from the southern Italian city and diverted north to Rome Fiumicino Airport, landing at approximately 09:45.

American Airlines attributed the diversion to “operational limitations.” Flight data reviewed by aviation tracking service Flightradar24 confirms that the aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-9, a variant typically longer than the Boeing 787-8, which usually serves the route.

While both aircraft share similar wingspans, the 787-9 is 20 feet longer and, crucially, requires a higher category of emergency services to be on standby during landing. According to standards set by Boeing and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the 787-9 requires a Category 9 rescue and firefighting service (RFFS), whereas Naples International Airport provides Category 8 — sufficient only for smaller wide-body aircraft like the 787-8.

Aviation enthusiast and commentator @xJonNYC first brought attention to the incident on social media platform X, citing airport sources who confirmed the larger 787-9 variant is not permitted to land in Naples.

After safely landing in Rome, passengers were transferred to Naples by bus — a journey of roughly 145 miles that takes over two hours by road. American Airlines issued an apology, stating, “We apologize to our customers for this disruption to their journey.”

The diverted aircraft later departed Rome for Chicago as Flight 111, resuming its transatlantic operations.

The incident marks the second time this week that passengers were rerouted by bus after flight diversions. In a separate case on Wednesday, a Ryanair flight in Europe diverted due to turbulence caused by a thunderstorm, with passengers transferred by road from Memmingen, Germany, to Milan.