Mechanical glitch hits Bush's Air Force One

HO CHI MINH CITY - The aircraft carrying US President George W. Bush on a tour of Asia suffered a tire problem during a stopover in the southern Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh City, officials said Monday.

They said the problem, which emerged after he landed Sunday in the city, had since been fixed and would not affect his plans to travel later Monday to Indonesia.

"We are back to normal," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

"There was a problem with a tire, they were able to find a replacement tire, and they repaired it."

Bush always flies with two planes, and officials had made plans to transfer him from Air Force One -- a blue and white liveried Boeing 747 known across the world through television and Hollywood films -- to a smaller aircraft for the journey to Indonesia.

The president flew to Ho Chi Minh City after a weekend Asia-Pacific summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. He was due Monday to visit the stock exchange here to highlight the country's growing economic clout.

Bush was scheduled to hold talks in Indonesia with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before returning to the United States.

Agence France-Presse