Frugal globetrotter President Xi Jinping flies Air China rather than a special ‘Air Force One’

The US President Barack Obama uses his own plane – widely known around the world simply by its air traffic control call sign, “Air Force One” – and so does North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

However, China has no special plane. When President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan flew to the US they took a commercial aircraft.

Xi and the first lady Peng Liyuan arrived in the city of Seattle on Tuesday, at the start of their state visit, on board a Boeing 747-400 flown by the national carrier, Air China.

“There is no ‘special plane’ for Chinese leaders – the planes are provided by Air China,” Lu Peixin, former acting director of the protocol department of China’s foreign ministry, was quoted as saying in a China Daily report on Tuesday.

Prior to any presidential flight, the aircraft’s interior was temporarily refitted with sofas and beds, and there was also a month spent carrying out security checks and the careful selection of the flight crew, Lu said.

The interior of the presidential cabin featured a living room, a bedroom and an office, which took up one-third of the total space, the report said.