What does a billionaire do when having a private jet becomes so affordable that mere millionaires can swing the cost?
He trades up--to a Boeing 747-8, say, or to a Airbus 380--costing $280 million and $300 million, respectively.
Back in 1996, when Boeing introduced the first "personal use" version of one of its commercial airliners, the $30 million Boeing Business Jet (a reconfigured 737) was treated as the last word in spaciousness and luxury. Now, compared with competing luxe lifts, a 737 looks like mashed potatoes.
Boeing's far larger 747-8 won't be ready for flight until 2010, and Airbus' 380 has been pushed back to the middle of the next decade. But these two giants should be worth billionaires' wait. Just outfitting their cavernous interiors with the little touches that make a plane a home--mahogany paneling, gold-plated fixtures and maybe a Jacuzzi or a screening room--could cost an owner $20 million.
Buyers kicking the tires of these behemoths probably own several other planes, says Steven Hill, president of Boeing Business Jet. Out of the four customers who have pre-purchased the 747-8, two were previous owners of smaller Boeing Business Jets, and their main motivation is to "get the latest and greatest," says Hill. "These people are fleet planning--they're planning their future."
Reported owners of Boeing aircrafts include Russian oil tycoon Roman Abromavich as well as Google guys Larry Page and Serge Brin. Other private jet-owning billionaires include Sergio Mantegazza (Falcon 900), Philip Green and Lakshmi Mittal (who both own Gulfstream G550s).
But perhaps the most luxe jet out there is the Airbus 380. What do you get for $300 million? For starters, plenty of room.
Jennifer Clay, principal of J. Clay Consulting, a New York City firm that advises major players in the airline industry, says a big, yacht-like reconfiguration of what was once a 180-person commercial jet allows an owner do something he perhaps could not in smaller private plane: stand up.
Lack of headroom on smaller jets, says Clay, is a cause of concern for many owners.
Greg Thomas, CEO of Privatair, an aviation company controlled by billionaire Spiro Latsis' group Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings, agrees that the reason for these planes' appeal has everything to do with their interior potential.
An owner willing to restrict use of his plane to his own travel (not allowing it to be rented out to third parties) can, according to regulation, outfit the cabin with amenities to suit his every whim.
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"There are two different standards [for cabin design]," explains Thomas. "If you're flying it commercial, you have to apply all sorts of stringent safely standards. It really limits the type of materials and configuration you can have. If you have a private design, you can more or less do what you like on board."
Two thirds of Privatair's jet owners have decided to do just that.
"There are some extraordinary VIP interiors around," says Thomas, particularly those on aircraft belonging to Gulf States royalty. Monarchs, he notes, "really go to town on their airplanes." One royal family mounted a Webcam on its plane's exterior, the better to enjoy clouds and rainbows, whose images were projected onto an interior 8-by-4-foot screen.
With that kind of technology, who needs the window seat?
