Overview
- Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson shared a photo of passengers boarding the Patriots-branded 767 and said the flight landed in Washington, D.C., on Friday morning.
- The State Department reports nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. from the Middle East since Feb. 28, with additional departures planned as security conditions allow.
- The Associated Press reported this was the second State Department–chartered Patriots plane to reach Dulles International Airport, and officials did not disclose the flight’s origin.
- The Boeing 767, known as AirKraft, is owned by the Kraft family and is operated by a charter company when not used by the NFL team.
- The same aircraft type has been deployed for public missions before, including transporting 1.2 million masks from China in 2020 and delivering medical supplies to Haiti in 2021.