Ever stepped into a new role with a perk you didn't want? An office parking space, but you have no car? A coffee machine, but you're strictly a tea drinker? In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador feels your pain because he took office with the burden of a $A289 million 787 Dreamliner jet. If you thought that was tough, he is now in the position of trying to sell it with no potential buyers. So he has hatched a plan. Party on a plane, anyone?
Purchased by a much less frugal president, Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), the jet was only ever used by his successor, Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018). In his campaign to gain leadership in 2018, President Lopez Obrador vowed to sell the jet as he saw it as an insult to the people.
With such a noble gesture in mind, the reality of selling something so ludicrously expensive and excessive was unfortunately farfetched. Unsurprisingly, not many people had an exorbitant amount of money to spend on a plane fit for 80 passengers with solid marble bathrooms and king-sized beds, so they've had to look at an alternative plan. If no one will buy it, maybe people will rent it.
The Mexican Government has put a call out for any party or wedding planners who would want to hire the plane for their big event. Every girl has dreamed of their big day being catered with plane food, and every 40th celebration isn't complete without tiny bags of nuts as hors-d'oeuvres.
The money generated from hiring the plane out to wealthy party goers is to go towards covering the expenses and maintenance costs. Let's hope loads of Mexicans want to wed mid-flight, otherwise this luxury jet will be the plane of President Obrador's existence.
