The site Flightradar24, where the curious could follow the journey of Pelosi’s plane, received so many visitors on Tuesday afternoon that they were forced to limit access to the site.
“Unfortunately, the number of visitors meant that we had to introduce our waiting room system,” the company behind the site states, referring to unprecedented interest.
In total, over 700,000 visitors are said to have tried to reach the site and many of them were met by stationary aircraft.
The interest in the flight came as word of Pelosi’s destination spread and many wanted to see if she was indeed going to Taiwan, a trip the United States did not make public.
Those accessing the site could see that the plane, marked Spar19, left Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and then circled the Philippines before heading for Taiwan.
When it flew in over the island and finally landed in Taipei, the rumor seemed to be true – and shortly after landing, Pelosi also stepped off the plane.
By then, interest in Flightradar24 had cooled, and the site returned to normal visitor numbers, the company writes.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and the visit has drawn threats from China.