THE Royal Family of Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula is downsizing and has put a family Boeing 747 up for sale.
At 500 million British pounds (about $876.5 million) this flying royal palace was bought brand new in 2012.
It then took Boeing a whole two years to fit it out to the Qatari’s specifications.
And amazingly, it’s clocked-up a mere 436 hours in four years of royal flying duties, meaning it is still virtually as new.
Australian specialist aviation website airlineratings.com says the plane has first class style seating for just 76 passengers served by 18 crew in several lounge areas, a double bedroom suite for the royal couple, the royals’ dining room with a table seating 14 and doubling as a boardroom, eight bathrooms on the main deck and two on the upper deck, and a fully fitted-out medical centre.
There are two galleys on the main deck and a third on the upper deck, each with their own catering crews.
The state of Qatar has a population of 2.6 million, of whom only 313,000 are Qatari citizens.
The other two million-odd are expatriates employed in or associated with its natural gas and oil reserves that are the third largest in the world.
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