An American Airlines flight bound for Naples was diverted to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport last week, as the aircraft operating the service was too large to land at the intended airport.
American Airlines flight 780, which departed Philadelphia on June 2, 2025, was beginning its descent into Naples before the aircraft circled over the Tyrrhenian Sea and travelled up the west coast of Italy and landed into Rome at 9:43 am local time, according to flight tracking data.
A spokesperson for American Airlines told Airline Economics that the flight diverted due to “operational limitations”, noting that passengers on the flight travelled onwards from Rome to Naples by bus, nearly 140 miles from the Italian capital.
The daily service between Philadelphia and Naples is normally operated with a 787-8 aircraft but on June 2, it was operated by American's 787-9 variant.
Documents show that Boeing and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) categorise the two Dreamliner variations differently, meaning they have different requirements for rescue and firefighting services (RFFS) at airports.
The 787-8 is small enough to land at an airport with a Category 8 RFFS, but the 787-9 needs a Category 9 RFFS airport to operate safely, meaning that it was not suitable to operate on this route, as the 787-9, which is 20 feet longer than the dash 8, requires more firefighting capacity.
American Airlines apologised to passengers for the disruption.