Sell, trade or rent? Mexico just can’t get rid of its presidential plane
- US$130 million Boeing Dreamliner will be returned to country after year on sale in US
- Determined to get rid of plane, president considered split ownership, renting out the aircraft, and even offered it to Trump in exchange for medical equipment
A state-of-the-art US$130 million presidential Boeing 787 Dreamliner is becoming a headache for the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mexico is flying back the luxurious aircraft from California after failing to sell it for over a year, Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday in his daily press conference, adding that they are rethinking options to get rid of the plane that he has deemed as too ostentatious.
AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, put the Dreamliner on the block right after his inauguration in December 2018, choosing to fly commercial airlines instead to make a point about his frugal government style.
The plane was flown to a Boeing hangar in Victorville, where the government has been paying maintenance fees and rent while trying to sell it.
A dozen potential bidders surfaced last year but no deal was closed, Jorge Mendoza, chief executive officer of state bank Banobras, which is overseeing the sale process, said at the same conference.