For the Super-Rich, It’s Time to Upgrade the Old Jumbo Jet

A movie theater is part of Lufthansa’s design for a private Boeing 787.

By JOE SHARKEY
NY Times

October 17, 2006. The tremendously rich are different not only from you and me but also from the merely rich. For one thing, some of them have really nice airplanes.

This is not about the presumed titans of the private jet universe like the mighty Gulfstream G5’s or Global Expresses, whose occupants can leap continents and oceans at high speed and in plush comfort, without all the inconveniences of commercial airports, airline schedules and, well, strangers.

This is about big, long-haul airliners that are converted to private jets and can carry not only pampered passengers and their entourages, but also, in some cases, their Rolls Royces and racehorses. These are specially equipped, privately owned jumbo jets — the kind that normally carry as many 300 to 400 passengers — but reconfigured with interiors designed for the enjoyment of, at most, a couple of dozen.

← The proposed master bedroom for the Dreamliner as designed by Lufthansa Technik.

And in a market in which many owners progressively upgrade — starting out, for example, with a Boeing 737 and eventually moving up — the next big thing is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which lists for about $150 million and up.

As a private jet, at least under a new “V.I.P.” design being introduced today by Lufthansa Technik at the National Business Aviation Association convention and trade show in Orlando, Fla., the 787 will have 35 seats — most of which can also be used as single lie-flat seats, queen-size beds or double beds, said Jennifer Urbaniak, a Lufthansa spokeswoman.

As a commercial airliner, the 787 will seat 210 to 330 passengers, depending on the airline that flies it.

“There are around 39 Boeing 747’s with interiors configured for V.I.P. use in the world, and many 757’s and 767’s, an MD-11, and two 777’s,” said Aaga Duenhaupt, a manager for Lufthansa Technik, based in Hamburg, a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa that designs and builds the interiors for new and used (or “pre-owned,” as they like to say in both the luxury car and luxury jet markets) airliners for individual or corporate use.

← The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a list price of at least $150 million. The first planes are expected to arrive in 2008

Even though the first deliveries of the 787 are not expected until 2008, industry experts say that marketing interior design plans now makes sense because there is always great interest in the next big thing at the highest end of the luxury private jet market. Ordering now ensures getting into the front of the line for a private 787, fully loaded, they say.

PrivatAir, a Swiss company that markets charter and individual flights on privately configured big planes, is interested in buying a 787 from Boeing and in having it outfitted in true luxury, its chief executive, Greg Thomas, said.

“We’ve signed a letter of intent and are still in negotiations about the finer points of the contract,” he said. “We have put money down; at the moment it’s refundable. We are very interested in the airplane — the capabilities are superb and it’s a classy product.”

PrivatAir, which specializes in long-haul V.I.P. flights, manages a fleet of 50 aircraft, including a 757 that is chartered by governments worldwide for special purposes. The 757 is also used three or four times a year for so-called air-cruises — “around-the-world trips for 21 days, basically by retired Americans,” he said. Those trips can cost $50,000 to $70,000 a person.

Such planes are also used for special business purposes. “We’ve done movie launches,” Mr. Thomas said. “We did the launches of ‘Ocean’s 11’ and ‘Ocean’s 12’ and ‘King Kong,’ ” he said. “The studio will rent the plane for the actors to go and do premieres. One of the ‘Matrix’ movies we whistle-stopped in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to open the movie in several cities one day after another.”

Mr. Thomas said PrivatAir had ordered a 767 aircraft and expected delivery late this year.

Jumbo jets are often favored by Arab sheiks and other fabulously wealthy people who tend not to advertise their opulent lifestyles. A notch or two down-market, the 777’s, 767’s and 757’s are often coveted by corporate titans, among them Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, who bought a used 767 last year and spent millions converting it into a private jet.

Airliner-size jets are also used by individual business people. Among them is Willie Gary, who grew up in a family of migrant workers in Florida but is now a prominent liability lawyer. Weary of wasting valuable time away from his family in commercial airports and eager to have the space to conduct business in the air, Mr. Gary bought a Boeing 737 several years ago and had it outfitted as a private jet. He also owns a 16-seat Gulfstream G2 that he refers to as his “second plane.”

Mr. Gary planned to invest in a bigger private 757, but now he says he is ready to kick the tires of the 787 Dreamliner, once the plane is on the market.

“On the 737, we can take depositions,” Mr. Gary said. “We have meetings and settlement conferences. It gives me the luxury of getting in and getting out and moving on. I’ve touched down in as many as five states in a day,” he said. “But I’m not going to keep the 737 forever. I’m a goal setter, and I’m always looking for something new.”

Anticipating strong growth in private demand for the long-haul, airliner-size planes, Lufthansa Technik says it is setting up a unit to design 787 interiors for clients.

The interiors have been developed in a partnership with Andrew Winch, who is best known for designing top-luxury interiors for big yachts.

Over the years, Lufthansa Technik has designed the interiors for 12 jumbo 747’s, said Mr. Duenhaupt. A 747 purchased “green,” that is, with basically a bare interior, costs about $180 million, he said. “And then, if you really want that 747 to be a full-blown V.I.P. aircraft, with all the V.I.P. luxuries, you can spend up to $50 million more on the interior.”

Some private 747’s are even equipped with medical emergency rooms, “including ones that can do open-heart surgery when people are flying into a certain environment,” Mr. Duenhaupt said. “But preferably the surgery is done on the ground when the plane has landed.”

Luthnansa Technik is now working on preliminary designs for the much-delayed Airbus A380, which will be the biggest plane in the sky once it is available.

In addition to its size, which will allow for even more luxury, the A380 has a feature that may appeal to the most status-conscious of owners, who may travel with underlings. That feature harks back to the days of ocean liners, where social classes were physically segregated.

“The A380 will offer a chance to separate the senior V.I.P.’s from the junior V.I.P.’s because you have two decks, and they can be kept apart,” Mr. Duenhaupt said.