Want a great big VIP jet? You’ve got company

Airbus has sold 22 of its of its VIP jets this year, setting a record for a division of the Toulouse, France-based company that was established a year after Boeing’s business jet unit.
In addition to their lines of business jets, Boeing and Airbus also sell their wide-body planes in VIP configuration. Boeing has sold about 200 of them over the years, including several of the new 747-8 stretch jumbo and long-range 787 recently. About 40 Airbus wide-body planes have been configured for VIPs.

While Airbus gets most of its private jet orders from corporations, wealthy individuals make up Boeing’s biggest client base, followed by heads of state, businesses and charter carriers.
VIP jets come with larger cabins than their commercial counterparts and are fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks that can almost double their flying range. Customers buy them in “green” condition — no walls, ceiling or carpeting, no seats or galleys — then send them off to completion centers, which often spend a year outfitting the interiors to the buyer’s liking.
Common layouts include bedrooms and gold-plated bathroom fixtures. Many are decked out with top-of-the-line entertainment systems and high-speed Internet connections, or dining room and coffee tables so finely polished they shine like mirrors.

Over the years, many customers have gotten choosier about their designs, said Jeff Bosque, president of Associated Air Center in Dallas, a completion center that finishes planes for both Boeing and Airbus.

“The majority of clientele are men, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, so most of them typically have an external designer that we work with that might have done yachts, or homes or apartments for these people, so we try to incorporate some of their design elements,” Bosque said.

It typically costs about $15 million to get a narrow-body plane finished. Much of that cost is tied to getting airworthy-certified furniture, walls, carpeting and other interior finishings, which have to be lightweight, fire- and crash-resistant.

Huizenga bought his Boeing jet for $30.5 million in 1997 and spent $10.5 million on the completion job. Most VIP jet customers ask that their purchases be kept secret, but the Dolphins logo Huizenga had emblazoned on the tail of his plane dashed any hope he might have had to keep his ownership quiet.

The plane has 27 seats, most of which recline as flat as a bed, making it easy for Huizenga and his guests to get a good night’s sleep when flying long distances. Four seats circle a finely stained rosewood table where Huizenga likes to play gin. Eight others line both sides of a long table toward the back that’s often used for business meetings.

There are three bathrooms, one with a shower, and the plane has exterior cameras that give passengers a birds-eye view of takeoffs and landings.

Huizenga has no plans to trade up anytime soon. “We like our plane,” he said. “I have no intention of selling it. I don’t need a bigger one, that’s for sure.”

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