It's ridiculously expensive to fly the most famous plane in the world
The White HouseA red carpet is unrolled at the base of the stairs of Air Force One as President Barack Obama arrives at at Ruzyne Airport in Prague, Czech Republic, April 8, 2010.Taxpayers fork over $206,337 every hour the world's most famous plane is in flight, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) letter obtained by non-profit Judicial Watch.
The FY15 cost per flying hour for Air Force One (VC-25A) includes "fuel, flight consumables, depot level repairables, aircraft overhaul, and engine overhaul," according to the letter from the Department of the Air Force Headquarters Air Mobility Command to Judicial Watch.
The White HousePresident Barack Obama talks with members of Congress on Air Force One after speaking at the AMA conference in Chicago on June 15, 2009. According to the National Taxpayer Union Foundation, President Obama has traveled the most internationally on what is the "most expensive-to-operate Air Force One to date."
Here are some examples from Judicial Watch:
Flights for Obama's 2014 Labor Day weekend fundraising trips to Westchester, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island, cost taxpayers $527,192.50 Transportation for Obama's round-trip flight from D.C. to Westchester, New York, to attend a wedding cost taxpayers $358,490.90 The flight for Obama's trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to speak at "Laborfest 2014" cost taxpayers $653,718.70Obama's June 17-19, 2013, trip to Belfast, Ireland, including a Dublin sightseeing side trip by Michelle Obama, her daughters, and her entourage, cost taxpayers $7,921,638.66.
Within the US, Obama has visited all but three states during his presidency. According to the Washington Post, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush were the only two presidents to visit all 50 states in the last 38 years.
The White HousePresident Barack Obama talks with the Congressional delegation aboard Air Force One April 19, 2009, during the flight from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Andrews AFB, following the Summit of the Americas. The three-leveled "flying Oval Office" has 4,000 square feet of interior floor space and boasts a conference room, a dining room, a private quarters for the president, offices for senior staff member, a medical operating room (a permanent doctor flies on every flight too), a press area, two food preparation galleys that can provide 100 meals, and multi-frequency radios for air-to-air and air-to-ground communication, according to aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
