Is this the ultimate business jet? Inside Boeing's 777-8

WAY TO GO FOR HIGH FLYING EXECS

David Ellis

AIRCRAFT maker Boeing has released details of the latest in its ultimate indulgences for the business person who has everything.

It's a version of its 777 passenger jet that normally carries close to 400 passengers in three classes, but as the company's now-newest in top-of-the-range Business Jets, this one will more likely fly anything from a mere handful to fifty or so, in an ambience more akin to a 5-star hotel suite.

And up to half-way around the world, non-stop.

The BBJ 777-8 (Boeing Business Jet 777-8) as it will be known when it goes to its first new owners in 2020 will cost around US$450m (AU$623m), the buyer then turning it over to a specialist aircraft detailer who will outfit it at a cost of tens of millions more.

And such outfitting could include everything from work places and meeting rooms, to lounges, sleeping areas with king- or queen-size beds, dining alcoves serviced from the best of airborne kitchens, possibly games rooms, cinemas and even Turkish steam-baths, plus any possibilities in personal foibles from the weird to the wondrous.

And it will have the longest range of any executive jet flying, something like 21,600km without stopping (Sydney to New York, as a comparison, is around 16,000km, and Sydney to London a touch over 17,000km.)

To keep it in the air over such vast distances, this new Boeing BBJ 777-8 will fill-up with 180,000 litres of fuel, and will have fridge, freezer and pantry space for enough of the best in food and beverages to keep passengers and crew generously slaked from go to whoa no matter where they are flying.

And if you are wondering whether there are many out there likely to buy such an aerial indulgence, since launching in 1996 Boeing Business Jets has delivered 234 various model flying boardrooms-cum-hotels, to better-heeled companies, presidents, prime ministers and palaces world-wide.


[] AIRCRAFT maker Boeing's ultimate in indulgence for the business person who has everything – a Boeing 777 passenger jet that normally carries up to 400 passengers, revamped to fly a mere handful to maybe fifty or so business executives, 5-star-hotel-like half-way or more around the world, and non-stop. (Pic: JetAviationOutfitters)