Boeing gives busy billionaires unbothered about bespoke beds a cheaper BizJet

You know how it goes: you want a private jet, but all the fuss and bother of deciding how to furnish it is just so off-putting. We here at Vulture Central completely sympathize. Boeing has come to the rescue! The plane-maker has created pre-designed cabin layouts and configurations "to expedite installation, while lowering the …

[Anonymous Coward]

What!

And miss the pleasures of a 4 hour red eye flight sat squashed next to some drunk man mountain?

That’s the genuine flying experience.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: What!

Well, Boing also makes the B-1B, which is supersonic. Sadly, I don't think they make an exec jet version, yet.

[DS999]

As yes

Buy the $89 million jet, but "save money" by paying Boeing $200K less than having the interior designer who did your second home design a bespoke 737 interior to exactly fit your needs. Glad someone is looking out for the poor billionaires, they need to watch their pennies too!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: As yes

You know what they say: look after the pennies, and the billions will look after themselves.

[Sceptic Tank]

Projectile Earnings

Will all those company catalogues in the bookshelf not become airborne in the event of an emergency and pose a severe injury risk? Remember to put some of those pillows over your head in that case. And also, send someone to properly make that bed.

And why is the pilot's manual not in the cockpit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Projectile Earnings

No problems.

Everything is super glued down and immovable.

[Ignazio]

Re: Projectile Earnings

Added danger is a feature not a bug. Feature for us plebs, I mean.

[Neil Barnes]

$89 million

and image that: a bit of turbulence and all those cushions will be flying around your millionaire ears!

[Pascal Monett]

"to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

Um, personal, sure. Business, ok. Head-of-state ? Well, the head of a poor state, maybe, but have you seen pics of the interior of Air Force One ?

There's the flying Oval Office, the Press Room, the Dining Room, the VIP Room, more than one Conference Room, seating for dozens of guests and for the presidential staff. Oh, and there's a Communications room (now I'd like to see that) and a Medical Bay. And a tiny kitchen.

Sure, it's a Boeing 747, but that's the point. They took a Boeing 747 and filled it to the brim. A 737 doesn't cut it.

[Winkypop]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

Kids today, eh?

Always after the latest thing.

I still daily my Boeing 707-120.

It rattles a bit but you get that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

Not for POTUS, perhaps, but there's a right miscellany of planes used by heads of state of world's less wealthy countries, with a nice Wikipedia article offering a summary. Apparently Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia and a few others do use Boeing BBJs.

My favourite is the Seychelles, with a leased Beechcraft 1900. And you've got to have sympathy with the totalitarian paupers who have to fly around in crappy old Soviet jets. Fat Boy Kim has to slum it in a ancient Ilyushin 62, hopefully it'll disintegrate when he's on board.

[naive]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

The president of North-Korea doesn't like airplanes, he travels using trains.

The fate of the late warrior mr. Prigozhin shows he might have a point there.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

I'm not sure that a suitably-armoured 737 would have adequate aerodynamic characteristics.

[uncle sjohie]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

The Dutch government bought a second hand one. Had to be a Boeing though, since our king is qualified on the 737, and the royal family uses it too.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

have you seen pics of the interior of Air Force One ?

No golf course? Surprised that they left that off the preconfigured options list.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

The gold course is in Trumpforce One. Allegedly it has golden balls to match the toilets and "showers" :-)

[PRR]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

> Head-of-state ? Well, the head of a poor state, maybe, ...

Yes, even POTUS has to fly small sometimes. Obama's family wanted to go to Bar Harbor. The "Bar Harbor Airport BHB" (which is really in another town) will {still!} take a B-17 easily but apparently won't take a 747. Instead the First Family was flown into Bangor BGR (which has a strip long enough, 11,440', for a Space Shuttle) and put onto a 737 (just a 2-motor 707, which used to be enuff for POTUS) to do the last 35 miles. (Wiki says BHB's 5,200' is short for a 737 but I guess it had 10% load and 10% fuel so they got it down and back up.) And someone sent the 7-ton SUVs ahead to do the last 13 miles.

> Boeing 707-120...It rattles a bit...

I bet. I rode one of the last 707 in domestic passenger service, MANY years ago, and it buzzed like angry bees from all the loose rivets.

[martinusher]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

AF1 isn't just one plane as well. The call sign is taken by the plane actually carrying the President but there's usually a bunch of other planes carrying vehicles, security and what have you.

[anothercynic]

Re: "to suit 'personal, business and head-of-state airplane requirements' "

I don't know who downvoted Martin here, but Martin is correct. Air Force One is the call sign of whatever plane that the prez is on. Marine One is the heli version. Whether it's a VC-25 (a Boeing 747), or a VC-137 (a Boeing 707 - ok, it's ancient, they don't have any), or a C-37 (a Gulfstream V)... If the prez is on board, it's 'Air Force One'. Air Force Two is for the vice prez.

[b0llchit]

wealth or WEALTH

You don't have enough money if you have to ask what it costs.

[IanD]

Did I read that correctly?

It's called the 'BBJ 737-7'...

The Boeing BJ .... I'm sure there will be sex workers who charge less than $89.1 million for one.

[Atomic Duetto]

Re: Did I read that correctly?

It’s a Boeing… everybody is going down at some stage

Interiors are a bit meh if I’m honest

[abend0c4]

Re: Did I read that correctly?

Interiors are a bit meh

They're luxurious compared to the UK's Air Farce 1.

[Lurko]

Re: Did I read that correctly?

Fit out matters not - when it comes to planes for heads of state, they're just a codpiece for the todger inside, and therefore the bigger the better.

That's why 747s have been so widely used as presidential aircraft.

[druck]

Re: Did I read that correctly?

The plane with the paint job is just another working A330-MRTT tanker transport when no one is in the small first class area, so it's not money wasted on some vanity project.

[Ignazio]

Re: Did I read that correctly?

It's for Big Jerk on Board

[Edwin]

Left wondering indeed

Who's the target market here?

Those that earned it themselves didn't earn it by not paying attention to detail

Those that didn't presumably have either staff or free time to make the interior turquoise velvet.

I just don't see the point of a $100M off-the-rack plane...

[Kev99]

Mark me down for a pair. IT just won't do if one has a smudge on the tip of the vertical stabilizer and I have to wait for it to be washed.

[Kev99]

Oh, as Benny Hill once said, "Do you really want a plane named Boeing?" Think about it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Being based on the 737- wouldn't range be limited? Transatlantic and trans Pacific very problematic.

[martinusher]

Not my favorite aircraft

Tricked out for executive use the plane may be usable but in normal service its cramped and noisy, a most unpleasant plane to fly in. This wasn't too much when typical flights were an hour or so but I've just done two four hour stints in the thing (full to the brim, of course) and it was a most unpleasant experience. (....and you always have that nagging question at the back of your mind whether they really fixed that MCAS or whether it was just a Band-Aid on a Band-Aid).

Modern Boeing planes are aircraft that only an accountant could love. Especially if the accountant had a decent bizjet to fly in rather than having to mix it with the proles.

One of the flight attendants remarked (as I gradually hauled myself out of the restroom)(tad small) that its a bit of a b***h if you're over 5' tall.