France shells out €176m on new luxury jet 'Air Sarko One'

ian_m

Irish Independent Saturday, July 31 2010
Nicolas Sarkozy's dream of having his own presidential jet to rival America's iconic Air Force One is about to come true.

"Air Sarko One", a €176m Airbus A330-200, has made its first test flight in the picturesque setting of Bordeaux, in south-western France.

It is due for completion by October. When completely fitted out, it will have a 12-man meeting room, 60 business class seats, top-grade encrypted communications systems, a reinforced fuselage and even a missile decoy system.

It will also have a bedroom, an air filter system to cope with the president's cigar smoke, and a shower.

A fleet of smaller jets will replace the current Falcon 50 and 900 models at ministers' disposal.

They will include two Falcon 7Xs, models often favoured by the world's jet set. Presidential air force officials have nicknamed one jet "Air Carla One" after the French leader's wife, the singer and former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy is understood to have long envied the luxurious conditions on the Boeing 747-200B in which Barack Obama, the US president, flies across the world, and has complained that his two smaller Airbus A319s lacked the necessary presidential stature. "Air Sarko One" as the plane has been dubbed, will have a wingspan that is two feet longer than the US model.

It has been claimed that Mr Sarkozy had wanted a full-sized presidential bathtub on board but he was informed that under heavy turbulence the bath water could overflow and seep into the aircraft's electronics.

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Plowman

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Jim

Spending all that money because he was "jealous" of Air Force One.

Ah, the rich and powerful. Sickening people.

Guy:Incognito

Plowman wrote: »

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I thought I heard somethign a couple of years back where it was somethign small like a Cessna that you cant stand up straight in.

Plowman

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Blue Punto

Plowman wrote: »

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IAC have a Gulfstream IV(251) it entered sevice back in 1991 and also a Bombardier Learjet 45(258)it entered service in 2004.
Both are used for Presidential & Ministerial transport.

The Beech King Air 200 (240) has been retired from these roles now I believe

EchoIndia

Stekelly wrote: »

I thought I heard somethign a couple of years back where it was somethign small like a Cessna that you cant stand up straight in.

If the Government signalled an intention to replace either of the current fleet, I expect we would see a media frenzy of criticism. Since the 1970s the so-called "informed commentators" have always had a problem with Government Ministers travelling in a "government jet", whereas they just "ooh" and "aah" when a "celeb" or business person does so.

Run_to_da_hills

I would have expected him to have gone for gold and ordered a customised A380

Saruman

Well in fairness, the US has air force one because the US president is a prime candidate for assassination as has been seen in the past.

Does anyone want to kill the French president? Apart from the Roma that is

ian_m

Saruman wrote: »

Does anyone want to kill the French president? Apart from the Roma that is

Sarkozy doesn't care... He just wants to have a bath at 33,000ft