Monaco balloon club plans US coast-to-coast flight for 2027
By Zak Jackson, MonacoViews Editorial
The Club des Aéronautes de Monaco plans a coast-to-coast US balloon crossing in 2027 and 2028, starting from Philadelphia, the birthplace of Princess Grace.
The red-and-white Monaco Moravia balloon returned to Place du Palais for a second public display, drawing crowds beneath the Palace walls before its handlers unveiled a far more ambitious project. The Club des Aéronautes de Monaco has confirmed plans to fly the balloon across the entire United States, east to west, over two stages in 2027 and 2028.
The first leg will launch from Philadelphia, chosen deliberately as the birthplace of Princess Grace, before the balloon works its way toward the west coast in the following year. It is a considerable undertaking for a small club rooted in the Principality, requiring logistics, weather windows and ground support stretched across thousands of kilometres of American terrain.
For Monaco, the flight doubles as a piece of soft diplomacy, tying the Principality's aeronautical tradition to the Grimaldi family's American connections nearly seven decades after Grace Kelly's marriage into the royal house. Residents who watched the balloon rise over the Rocher this week are effectively seeing the opening chapter of a project that will carry Monaco's colours across an ocean and a continent.