Egyptian publisher Hisham Kassem has revealed that the Egyptian government has replaced the Airbus presidential jet that entered service 28 years ago with a new Boeing 747-8i that was purchased in 2021.
Qasem also revealed in a post on his official Facebook page that the new aircraft: “It was purchased for a total of 487 million US dollars, which means approximately 8 billion Egyptian pounds (a dollar was 16 pounds) in addition to the cost of its processing, which the news did not specify, but it will be available to anyone who is looking, and of course the cost of new paint (paint).”
In this regard, a simple aviation website specializing in aviation news reported that the new Egyptian presidential aircraft flew to Shannon, Ireland, to be painted by one of the companies specializing in painting aircraft. In his report, which was published on Monday, August 29, 2022, he also said that Egypt is about to join the exclusive club of nations that uses Boeing 747-8s to transport high-ranking government officials.
Where on the site it was said that in 2011 the Boeing company was building a fleet of new Boeing 747-8 aircraft for the German airline Lufthansa, but Boeing needed a test aircraft, and requested that one of the Lufthansa aircraft remain . 20 aircraft were ordered to remain in the United States for several flight tests, but were eventually placed in long-term storage until fall 2021.
He also revealed that the plane was sold to the Egyptian government and after some testing it was transferred to Hamburg, Germany for a new interior design. In this regard, Lufthansa has entered into a contract for the internal refurbishment of the aircraft, as the company upgrades the aircraft for use in VIP transportation.
