Saudi Prince To Buy “Flying Palace”

November 13, 2007 · Filed Under Business News, World News · Comment

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has ordered his own Airbus A380 which is the largest passenger plane on earth. The plane is said to be costing the Saudi billionaire more than $300 million and is being purchased and outfitted solely for his private comfort.

Airbus SAS hasn’t released 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.

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.

The Saudi Prince is the single largest individual shareholder of Citigroup Inc. and the thirteenth richest person in the world with a fortune estimated at 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.

Tags: Airbus A380, Flying Palace, Jumbo Jet, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia, World News