MEXICO CITY (AP) — After nearly 4 1/2 years of attempting, Mexico’s president mentioned Thursday he has lastly offered the undesirable presidential jet — to the previous Soviet republic of Tajikistan.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned the federal government of Tajikistan paid the equal of about $92 million for the Boeing 787 jet.
López Obrador refused to make use of the jet after taking workplace on Dec. 1, 2018, saying it was too luxurious. The austerity-loving president normally takes business flights.
López Obrador had tried to lure companies and enterprise executives to purchase the jet, however discovered no takers. He even symbolically “raffled off” the airplane, which might be costly to transform again into a standard airliner.
The airplane was bought for $200 million and was utilized by the earlier president, Enrique Peña Nieto.
It has been tough to promote as a result of it’s configured to hold solely 80 folks and has a full presidential suite with a non-public bathtub. Specialists mentioned it might be pricey to reconfigure right into a typical passenger jet that may carry as much as 300 passengers.
Although the airplane has comparatively few miles on it, Mexico was desirous to unload it as a result of maintence prices make it costly to maintain parked. There had been speak the Boeing 787 could be turned over to an army-run firm to be used as a business jet.
“After a very long time, we managed to promote the airplane,” López Obrador mentioned in a video clip from contained in the airplane, which he had beforehand refused to board. “We’re completely satisfied.”
“We’re going to use the cash from promoting the airplane to construct two hospitals,” he mentioned.