World's biggest toy set for take-off

Published on Friday 30 March 2007 01:05

WHIRLPOOL tubs, two dining areas, a bedroom measuring more than 600 square feet and a games room - welcome to the world's biggest and most luxurious jet, a snip at £225 million.

The flying palace, which has been commissioned by an unnamed Middle-Eastern head of state, is being converted from the ordinary passenger version of the new Airbus A380 "superjumbo".

The aircraft may be dogged by delays and years behind schedule, but this is the first order from a private buyer for the European plane manufacturer.

Edse Doret, a New York-based jet-interior expert who is fitting out the A380, estimated the upgrade would cost an extra 75 million on top of the aircraft's pricetag of 150 million.

A missile-defence system is also planned.

Mr Doret will create a lounge with curtains to mimic tents of the Arabian desert, and a fibre-optic mosaic that will depict a shifting desert scene.

The A380, which can seat up to 853 passengers, is not only the largest passenger plane in history, it is the most expensive. Maintenance and fuel costs will be very high compared with those of smaller jets. Exact figures for the A380 are unavailable but rival Boeing's 747-400 costs more than 5,000 an hour to fly. Airbus's smaller A320, by comparison, costs around 1,500 an hour, while a top-of-the-range Gulfstream G550 costs about 1,150 per hour.

Outfitting jumbo jets as mobile mansions is the latest craze among the richest of the rich. Boeing says it has taken 11 orders for its two biggest models - the 747 and 787 Dreamliner - in the last two years for "VIP use".

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page bought a used Boeing 767-200 for 7.5 million in 2005.

Costing about 25 million, the Gulfstream G550 is cheap in comparison to the Airbus A380. The biggest flying mansions can equal or surpass the cost of the biggest yachts - 100 million to 150 million - and are well beyond the most expensive estates on the market - 50 million to 75 million. Boeing says the majority of private buyers are from the Middle East. But Americans, Europeans, Russians and Asians are also starting to place orders.

After signing purchase contracts and making a 10 per cent deposit, customers typically get their planes after a few years.

Customiser Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of the German airline, has been in talks with "a couple of potential A380 customers" and their interior designers, said Aage Duenhaupt, a spokesman.

The company, with a workforce of 1,100 engineers and outfitters, expanded one of its wide-body hangars in Hamburg last year to prepare.

Swiss-based customiser Jet Aviation Management AG recently finished an Airbus 320-200 (which normally seats about 150) for Saad Group, a Saudi conglomerate.

The plane was outfitted with two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a conference and dining area and programmable fibre-optic lighting in the carpet. A larger Airbus 340-600 being prepared for the company is expected to be delivered in 2009 and will include guest suites, bars, master bedrooms with bathrooms, and dining and private areas.

Airbus says jumbo-jet buyers want self-contained worlds where they can eat, sleep and hold meetings even when they have landed.

John Leahy, Airbus's chief commercial officer for customers, said: "You can host an elegant dinner party on the ground in a third-world country. After you bid your guests a fond farewell, you close the door and head home."

There is perhaps only one problem owning a flying palace - they're too big to land at many of the world's high-end airports, including Nice, Aspen and New Jersey's Teterboro.

Many airports have runways too short for the huge planes, or lack the ground equipment to handle them. That means owners of big jets have to pick their destinations carefully. Asked whether an A380 could try to fly into Aspen, Airbus's Mr Leahy responded: "Only once".