Now that Prince Alwaleed is buying a personal A380 jet, should
MM Lee also have one? 
Saudi Prince Purchases His Own Airbus
A380 Superjumbo (Update1)
By Massoud A. Derhally and Andrea Rothman
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi
billionaire who is Citigroup Inc.'s biggest individual investor,
agreed to buy a $319 million Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo, becoming
the first private customer for the world's biggest aircraft.
The purchase was announced by Toulouse, France-based Airbus at the
Dubai Air Show today. Alwaleed, ranked the world's 13th-richest
person by Forbes magazine, flew in from Saudi Arabia on his Boeing
Co. 747. Fitting out the A380's interior may cost ``several hundred
million,'' Airbus said.
Surging oil prices have helped boost sales of private jetliners in
the Middle East. The double-deck A380, which seats 525 people in a
standard airline configuration, can house three bedrooms, private
lounges, bathrooms, offices, a steam bath and exercise machines in
a so-called VIP set-up, according to Deutsche Lufthansa AG's
maintenance arm, which may outfit the plane.
``It's conspicuous consumption taken to a new height,'' said Doug
McVitie, managing director of Arran Aerospace, a consulting company
in Dinan, France. ``The VIP end of the market is growing steadily
and manufacturers are actively looking for business as these
aircraft are now shop windows.''
Sales Target
Airbus, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, expects
to sell about 20 VIP versions of the A380, it said today.
Alwaleed's aircraft will be delivered in 2010 and will be powered
by Rolls-Royce Group Plc Trent 900 engines. While the superjumbo
has a list price of $319 million, the actual amount he will pay was
not disclosed.
The European planemaker began offering a business variant of its
124-seat, single-aisle A319 in 1999. Since then, annual VIP sales
have doubled and the company has added larger models such as its
A330 and A340 widebodies.
About 80 private aircraft had been sold by Airbus as of last
January, Richard Gaona, vice president for executive and private
aviation, said at the time, adding talks were ongoing with two
potential A380 customers. Airbus expects to sell 30 to 35 VIP
planes a year, with the Middle East accounting for as many as 40
percent of them, he said.
Private aviation in the Middle East, the world's third- largest
market after the U.S. and Europe, may grow 10-12 percent annually,
doubling in value to about $800 million by 2012, Ali al-Naqbi,
chairman of the Dubai-based Middle East Business Aviation
Association, said Jan. 11.
Citigroup Stake
Alwaleed first invested in Citigroup, the world's largest bank, in
1991 and his Kingdom Holding Co. has a 4 percent stake worth at
least $6.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Like
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett, the Saudi prince
built his $25 billion fortune by taking holdings in undervalued
brand-name companies.
A nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, Alwaleed began investing after
graduating from California's Menlo College in 1979. A year later,
he received a $300,000 loan from Saudi American Bank, which was run
by Citicorp, according to his authorized biography ``Alwaleed:
Businessman, Billionaire, Prince,'' written by Al-Jazeera
International host Riz Khan.
In 1991, the prince invested $590 million in Citigroup predecessor
Citicorp, which needed cash as it struggled with Latin American
loan losses and a collapse in U.S. property.
To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at [email protected] ; Andrea
Rothman in Toulouse, France, at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 12, 2007 09:14 EST
