Thread: Saudi Prince buys an Airbus A380 Palace in the Sky

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - In the annals of excess, it could be a new high: a more than $300 million dollar, super-sized luxury airplane, bought and outfitted solely for the private comfort of a Saudi Arabian billionaire.

Once done, the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, will be a "flying palace" for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the manufacturer announced Monday.

Airbus SAS would not give a specific price tag for the VIP double- decker jet, with its football field-length wings, saying only that it would cost more than the aircraft's list price of $320 million.

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Tour the world's biggest passenger plane

That doesn't even include the money the prince will spend to custom fit the nearly 6,000-square foot plane to include whatever he wants. The options include private bedrooms, a movie theater or even a gym with a jacuzzi. He'll also need a flight crew of about 15 to operate the luxury liner.

"Prince Alwaleed is the first, and so far the only customer of this aircraft," said David Velupillai, the spokesman of the Airbus, which announced the luxury order at the Dubai International Airshow.

It's all just spending cash for bin Talal-Citigroup Inc.'s biggest individual shareholder and the world's 13th richest person with assets around $20 billion.
As a member of the Saudi royal family, he benefits from the country's vast oil wealth. But much of bin Talal's huge fortune comes from his investment firm, the $25-billion Kingdom Holding Co., which has stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Inc., Time Warner Inc., Apple Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Walt Disney Co. to name a few major corporations.

The prince, who is in his early 50s, appears to have a taste for super-sized jumbo jets. He already is the only private owner of a Boeing 747-400, Airbus said.

"It's like buying a new car or a new TV," Velupillai told The Associated Press. "One wants something bigger and better."

Airbus would not release many details about bin Talal's VIP A380, which dwarfs the 747-formerly the world's most spacious plane. Staff who answered the phone at bin Talal's office on Monday in Saudi Arabia said he was unavailable to comment.

The commercial A380, which made its maiden voyage with Singapore Airlines last month, is as tall as a seven-story building with each wing big enough to hold 70 cars. It is capable of carrying 853 passengers in an all-economy class configuration.

Take out the seats, and the plane can be transformed into a flying mansion.

Germany's Lufthansa Technik, which declined to comment Monday on bin Talal's purchase, has created a general rendering of what a VIP A380 jumbo could include: spacious bedrooms on the plane's upper deck, separated by a reception area and a bar next to central stairway. The master bedroom could include an office, private dinning room, a gym featuring a steam bath and exercise machines.

The lower decks could feature a lounge-type quarters equipped with a conference area and dining room. A third level, normally used for cargo, could be transformed into another passenger space or cinema.

This type of custom design does not come cheap. Experts say it could rack the price up by another $50 million to $150 million.

Purchases of private airliners has mushroomed in recent years, but most orders are in the category of a Learjet or Gulfstream-small and cheap at $2 million to $5 million in comparison to the A380, said David Bain, editor of a British-based online wealth analysis service, wealth-bulletin.com.

"It seems the Saudis really like these huge planes, and they have the money to do it," said Bain, who believes about a dozen other individuals own commercial jets. "Very few people buy commercial planes. It's a bit over the top."

But he and Airbus expect that number to grow. The airline company said it expects at least six other A380 VIP jets to be sold to clients in the Middle East, and Central and South Asia.

"The amount of billionaires has sky rocketed in recent years, and the really rich ones are looking to buy a commercial airline rather than a Learjet," Bain said.

All those moslims are stupid in my eyes, ill explain why.

1: They live in a desert and build in it.
2: They trow money away they badly need for the short furture.
3: They dont use money to fortulise the ground.
4: They use money exadurated amounts for personal pleasure and the small people stay waay begind not the european way of thinking.

I agree with you on number 5, self centered people. But I believed not all Muslim are like that.

Shame when the rich squander money like that when they wouldn't be rich if it weren't for all the poor people that help get them there.

I'd love to win the Powerball, just so I could help people..

Or another way to look at it.
All the people who had a job making that jet.
Thus being able to feed, clothe and shelter their families.

Have you seen what they pay workers in that part of the world?

And the workers who made the jet certainly didn't get anywhere near the retail value of that plane..

Granted it keeps people working, but at a greater cost than you imagine IMO.

Originally Posted by iowadawg

Or another way to look at it.
All the people who had a job making that jet.
Thus being able to feed, clothe and shelter their families.

Europe?
Am sure the workers got a good salary and still continue getting a good salary.

Well, if you want the workers to get the retail value, then go to say North Korea or some other communist country.
Of course, the government will take all your earnings.

The prince could have bought American!
Like a Boeing.

The prince has already got a Boeing 747 (the only privately held Boeing 747 in the world)

It just wasn't big enough for him.

And what would he do to that 747? If he got his new palace in the sky. :3079: