When Nicolas Sarkozy dined with the Queen on his recent official visit, their conversation may have strayed into matters aeronautic. For it turns out that both have been shopping for a new executive jet.
While Her Majesty is in the market for a modest aircraft, such as a Gulfstream or Learjet with 12 seats and a small bar, suitable for UK flights and perhaps the odd trip to France, Sarkozy’s aspirations are much higher. France is ordering an Airbus 330-200, large enough to accommodate 200 passengers, a presidential suite, canteen and conference room.
What prompted Sarkozy, apart from a ride while in the US on Air Force One, to seek such an expensive solution to his transport requirements was the arduous nature of his trip to China last year. The French diplomatic press corp flew non-stop to Beijing on a specially chartered 747, while Sarkozy, travelling in a much smaller aircraft, had to be woken up and for security reasons forced to walk across the freezing tarmac in Siberia at a refuelling stop.
Carla Sarkozy has been given the job of designing the interior of the new aircraft with the help of friends from the French fashion industry. Carla is said to have warned her husband that the aircraft will make him even more unpopular but Sarkozy simply does not care. The cost, at a time when everyone in the French civil service is being expected to tighten their belts, is believed to be almost £150M.
The Queen meanwhile, after immaculate timing by members of her staff at the Palace in pleading poverty and seeking extra money from taxpayers to spend on royal buildings, will have to make do with a budget of £15M, one tenth of the expenditure across the Channel. Her executive jet will be of little use for flights of more than 700 miles and with the phasing out of the ageing Royal Flight, she will have to travel on scheduled flights on longer trips. One royal official suggested with tongue firmly in cheek that the British government might go halves with the French in ordering a joint aircraft, reviving the heady days of the Concorde.
From our July 2008 e-newsletter
