This was published 1 year ago
Luxury private Dreamliner no one wanted is finally sold
By Reuters
Mexico’s presidential jet has been sold to Tajikistan, the government said on Thursday, seemingly closing the final chapter on a political saga that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador used repeatedly to assail the excesses of his predecessors.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, centre left, waves before a press conference in 2020 about the luxury private jet.Credit: AP
Lopez Obrador announced in a post on Twitter that the agreed sale price for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner used by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto - but never by him - was about 1.66 billion pesos ($138 million).
In a video accompanying the post, the president said the sale demonstrated how Mexican politics has changed under his leadership.
“It’s important that everyone knows how people thought before, how the authorities acted, like little pharaohs,” he said, sitting in a high leather-backed seat, flanked by officials.
“Not anymore.”
More details of the sale of the plane to the Central Asian country would be disclosed next week, including what he described as the aircraft’s exorbitant maintenance costs.
The jet proved hard to sell as it was configured to carry only 80 people and has a full presidential suite with a private bath. Credit: AP
One of the officials with the president, Jorge Mendoza, head of national development bank Banobras, said the Tajikistan state council that purchased the plane has about 10 days to take possession of it.
The populist leftist who has for decades railed against corruption of political elites, had previously said he hoped to sell the aircraft for at least $US150 million ($224 milllion), down from its original $US218 million purchase price in 2012.
The jet features marble touches and official government seals emblazoned on the walls along with multiple flat-screen monitors.Credit: AP
Shortly after Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018, he announced plans to sell the jet, which featured marble touches and official government seals emblazoned on the walls along with multiple flat-screen monitors.
But years went by with no sale, and at one point the frugal Mexican leader, who has championed budget austerity during his more than four years in office, proposed to raffle off the aircraft.
Last year Obrador announced a plan to make the plane available to rent for parties.
Lopez Obrador, who takes commercial flights when he does travel, said the proceeds of the sale will be used to build two 80-bed public hospitals in southern Guerrero and Oaxaca states, among the country’s poorest regions.
“They will be built by military engineers and will be inaugurated before my term ends,” he added.
Reuters
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