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See inside the $340 million Airbus A330 private jet concept that looks like a superyacht with bedrooms, a deck, and glass floors

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12223597" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lufthansa" source="Orion">Lufthansa</keyword> is among <keyword id="11898285" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="airlines" source="Orion">airlines</keyword> considering replacing business-class seats with more '<keyword id="12223594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="premium-economy" source="Orion">premium economy</keyword>.'</li><li>Premium economy is far more profitable for airlines than <keyword id="12223595" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business-class" source="Orion">business class</keyword>, airlines told Bloomberg.</li><li>Some airlines are considering scrapping business class entirely, Lufthansa told Bloomberg.</li></ul><p>More and more airlines are considering replacing at least some of their business-class seats with "premium-economy" sections, according to a report by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-01/premium-economy-seating-grows-as-airlines-see-less-business-travel?sref=lAVQtUwz">Bloomberg</a>.</p><p>A division of German airline Lufthansa told the publication it had even received enquiries from other airlines who wanted to scrap business class entirely.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/review-british-airways-economy-vs-premium-economy-london-to-toronto-2020-1">Premium economy</a>, one notch below business class, is generally an upgrade from regular economy, with slightly wider seats and more legroom, and sometimes better food and bigger TVs. Seats typically take up nearly two-thirds less room than business-class berths and are up to 10 times cheaper to install, which makes them very attractive to airlines, per Bloomberg's report.</p><p>Premium-economy seats are around 40% more profitable per square foot of a plane's cabin space than business class, Lufthansa told Bloomberg. The airline <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lufthansa-new-premium-economy-class-2014-3">has premium-economy cabins</a> on each of its 102 long-haul aircraft, and is considering replacing some business-class seats with more premium-economy ones, it told Bloomberg.</p><p>Lufthansa Technik, the airline's division that focuses on cabin maintenance and repair, told Bloomberg that it has received enquiries from other airlines considering shrinking business class so that they could add premium-economy sections. Some Asian airlines are even considering scrapping business class completely, the company told Bloomberg, without naming the airlines.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-delta-premium-economy-2016-11">American</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-on-united-airlines-premium-new-york-california-route-review-2021-5">United</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-delta-premium-economy-2016-11">Delta</a> - the US's three largest airlines - are installing premium-economy sections in their widebody planes, which have three aisles of seats, per Bloomberg's report.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/emirates-unveils-new-design-for-new-airbus-a380s-premium-economy-2021-1">Emirates unveiled its first planes with premium economy</a> earlier this year, complete with leg and foot rests, while <keyword id="12123609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="finnair" source="Orion">Finnair</keyword> is adding the section to all 27 of its widebody planes, it told Bloomberg. <keyword id="11896283" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carriers" source="Orion">Carriers</keyword> including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/singapore-airlines-worlds-longest-flight-premium-economy-review-2018-11">Singapore Airlines</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/review-british-airways-economy-vs-premium-economy-london-to-toronto-2020-1">British Airways</a> introduced premium-economy sections before the pandemic.</p><p>"The investment has been an easy decision for us," Finnair CEO Topi Manner told the publication. "Premium economy is the most profitable real estate on the aircraft, and the pandemic is reinforcing that."</p><p>Lufthansa told the publication that it was initially worried that business-class customers would downgrade to cheaper seats in premium economy, but that actually, most premium-economy customers are people who upgrade from economy instead.</p>

Some airlines may scrap business class entirely to make room for more 'premium economy' seats, a report says

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>For more than a century, Mercedes-Benz has the been the go-to purveyor of fine luxury automobiles. Now, the German automaker is stepping to another kind of luxury by teaming up with Lufthansa Technik - the aviation engineer arm of the Lufthansa Group - to design a ultra-posh cabin for private jets.</p><p><span>The concept created by the two companies eliminates the traditional delineation between ceiling, wall, and floor designs. Instead, the interior concept deploys what the companies refer to as a "spiral layout," which melds the three design elements into a continuous, flowing feature.</span></p><p><span>On board, "black panels" float in front of the window and are meant to evoke the screen-design of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. The concept interior is also equipped with Mercedes-Benz Magic Sky technology that can turn the "black panels" from dark to transparent.</span></p><p>Announced this week in Geneva at the 2015 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), Mercedes-Benz Style - the company's non-automotive design firm - and Lufthansa Technik will use the concept to gauge interest from their "discerning customers."</p><p>Which means, don't expect to see this interior installed in some lucky guy's Boeing BBJ or Airbus ACJ anytime soon. </p><p><span>"It was an inspiring challenge to transfer our design philosophy of sensual purity into the area of aeronautical engineering," Daimler AG vice president Gorden Wagener said in a statement. "The spectacular architecture of the interior shows creativity and modernity. Sensual surfaces and clear forms, combined with intelligent high-tech features and perfectly shaped modern luxury are the characteristic features of Mercedes-Benz design." </span></p><p><span>Have a closer look at Mercedes and Lufthansa's venture into the wonderful world of private jet interiors:</span></p><p><span><strong>Here, the spiral layout blends the ceiling, wall, and floor of the cabin</strong>.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Check out the lounge seats with smart screens.</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>There's a fish tank!</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Here's a view of the interior from one of the lounge chairs</strong>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Its got a bed.</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>The overall design layout flows effortlessly from one feature to another.</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-try-put-tape-cassette-player-boom-box-2015-5">We gave kids an old cassette player and here's what they did next</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="54cjdsdDoOEM-0uTgTHjC0U5vGWORcTX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Mercedes-Benz and Lufthansa are designing the ultimate luxury private-jet interior

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Germany has received its last  VIP-equipped Airbus A350 plane, creating a uniform fleet.</li><li>The aircraft got a paint job and a swanky new interior, though details of the cabin are scarce.</li></ul><p>Boasting the country's national colors of black, red, and gold on the fuselage and wingtips, the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, has received its third and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/germanys-new-air-force-one-airbus-a350-900-xwb-photos-2020-8">final fully-equipped governmental A350-900.</a></p><p>Inside the aircraft, which is named "Kurt Schumacher" after the German politician, is a new VIP cabin retrofitted by the aircraft service provider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lufthansa-technik.com/en/handover-of-final-a350-government-aircraft-to-the-german-air-force-7191a9babfed10fd">Lufthansa Technik.</a></p><p>The jet is used for political and parliamentary transport, carrying top officials like Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.</p><p>"Kurt Schumacher" was the first A350 built for the Luftwaffe, initially delivered in 2020.</p><div type="image" title="The A350 with black, red, and gold on wingtip." height="2756" width="4134" msid="110765526" hostid="261" sizebytes="269136"></div><p>Its Germany's third A350 aircraft fit with the swanky new cabin. The first two A350s complete with the VIP interior were sister planes "Konrad Adenauer" and "Theodor Heuss."</p><p>These aircraft were delivered factory-fresh in November 2022 and March 2023, respectively, with the new cabin already installed. The "Kurt Schumacher" A350 was sent back to Lufthansa Technik in early 2023 to get its retrofit.</p><p>"Only a few small accents in the interior, individual reminiscences of the respective namesakes, now distinguish "Adenauer," "Heuss," and "Schumacher" from each other," the company said.</p><p>Aside from the minor differences, Lufthansa Technik described the A350's new uniform fleet as having generous seating, an appropriate number of bathrooms, and a modern galley.</p><p>It represents a significant change from the interim cabin that was initially installed on the jet four years ago.</p><p>The "Kurt Schumacher" A350 once flew without a VIP cabin because, at the time, Germany was flying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-selling-vip-merkel-one-a340-2023-12">unreliable Airbus A340 government planes</a> riddled with maintenance problems and needed replacements quickly put into service.</p><div type="image" title="German government Airbus A340" height="1615" width="2500" msid="110765530" hostid="261" sizebytes="543144"></div><p>"In contrast to the [interim's] open cabin design, the various functional areas for political-parliamentary flight operations are now structurally separated from one another," Lufthansa Technik <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lufthansa-technik.com/en/handover-of-airbus-a350-konrad-adenauer-to-german-armed-forcesrelease-f6bda63779f2dd43">said</a> after the delivery of the first VIP-equipped A350 in 2022.</p><p>The three A350 replacements cost Germany $1.3 billion, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/32695-german-air-force-one-germany-receives-new-vip-airbus-a350">Aerotime Hub</a> reported. This included about $325 million for the cabins and about $312 million for missile defense systems.</p><p>A company spokesperson told Business Insider that, due to security reasons, interior shots of the aircraft have not been released to the public.</p><p>Given this is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acj.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-05-germany-becomes-first-government-customer-for-acj350">first</a> VIP A350 project for Lufthansa Technik, there are no prior fully-built cabin designs for reference. The company has a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lufthansa-technik.com/en/vip-aircraft">concept</a> for a corporate A350 that it released in 2016, which includes things like a bed, showers, and a spa.</p><div type="image" title="Rendering of Lufthansa Technik's VIP A350 cabin." height="381" width="600" msid="110765532" hostid="261" sizebytes="16312"></div><p>It's likely Germany's private fleet will have a similar grandiose design and aesthetic, but it will also have those specific governmental touches.</p><p>Other <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-the-countries-governments-flying-boeing-747-air-force-one-2022-9">countries' widebody governmental airplanes</a> can give an idea of what that might look like.</p><div type="image" title="Barack Obama speaks on the phone in a conference room on Air Force One." height="1000" width="1500" msid="110765533" hostid="261" sizebytes="97314"></div><p>For example, the US government fleet consists of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-the-countries-governments-flying-boeing-747-air-force-one-2022-9">two specially modified Boeing 747-200B quad-jets</a> to carry the president.</p><p>The "Flying Oval Office" has three levels, 4,000 square feet of floor space, dining and conference spaces, an executive suite, and an office for the president and his or her entourage.</p><div type="image" title="Barack Obama on Air Force One." height="533" width="799" msid="110765536" hostid="261" sizebytes="44320"></div><p>Separate living areas are available for senior staff, the Secret Service, and the media, among other guests.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-mexicos-presidential-boeing-jet-rented-out-parties-weddings-2022-4">Mexico's former governmental Boeing 787</a> had similar luxuries, including a bedroom and dining and office spaces, as well as rows of business-class-like recliners.</p><div type="image" title="The private suite with a guard standing next to a king-sized bed onboard the former Mexican VIP Boeing 787." height="1333" width="2000" msid="110765531" hostid="261" sizebytes="158214"></div><p>The country sold the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-private-jet-mexico-sold-2023-5">"ostentatious" airliner for $92 million</a> last year because its president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, refused to use it.</p>

Germany received its third VIP Airbus A350 plane, which replaced the country's old fleet of unreliable A340s

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Emirates announced investments of more than $1.5 billion to keep its 119-strong fleet of Airbus A380s flying.</li><li>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-emirates-new-airbus-a380-cabin-premium-economy-first-class-2022-1">quad-engine superjumbo has been the airline's flagship plane</a> for over 15 years.</li></ul><p>Although global airlines continue to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-draws-heart-sky-with-last-airbus-a380-built-emirates-2021-12">retire the mammoth Airbus A380</a> in favor of more fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft, Emirates is long from giving up on its flagship airplane.</p><p>At the Dubai Airshow in mid-November, the UAE-based carrier <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=1e0c0142b002e7485c33a6e8ae63cc30c9751b6b5e58d36419f744b42643b8a0&amp;postID=655d04d3e8d3bfe1cd86c953&amp;postSlug=emirates-invests-over-1-billion-in-a380-overhaul-keep-flying-2023-11&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.emirates.com%2Fmedia-centre%2Femirates-a380-fleet-to-fly-better-well-into-the-next-decade-with-significant-investments-signed-at-dubai-airshow-2023%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial_organic_pr%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin%26utm_campaign%3D20231115_a380investments%26utm_content%3Dglobal">announced</a> a series of investments that would keep its giant fleet of A380s flying for years to come.</p><p>The company, which is the world's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-emirates-new-airbus-a380-cabin-premium-economy-first-class-2022">largest operator of the over $400 million A380,</a> said in a statement that it signed deals worth over $1.5 billion that will contribute to the maintenance and repair of its superjumbo.</p><p>Collins Aerospace, Honeywell, Pratt &amp; Whitney, and Lufthansa Technik, among others, have all been tapped for the project to help Emirates "optimise its A380 fleet's lifespan and unlock additional operational efficiency gains, all at its exacting standards."</p><p>The companies will provide services like engine maintenance and a landing gear overhaul.</p><p>"The A380 has been and will continue to be very much part of the Emirates story," company president Sir Tim Clark said in a press release.</p><p>In total, the airline took 123 of the 251 double-deckers delivered — meaning it bought up nearly half of the world's A380s. <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=2e96509278e11334aa34acadb3f42eb3364abb97e377bd15b36fb0980ddea9a2&amp;postID=655d04d3e8d3bfe1cd86c953&amp;postSlug=emirates-invests-over-1-billion-in-a380-overhaul-keep-flying-2023-11&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.emirates.com%2Fmedia-centre%2Femirates-group-announces-record-half-year-performance-for-2023-24%2F">Emirates</a> still operates nearly 90 of its 119-strong superjumbo fleet, with plans to reinstate more "in the coming months."</p><p>"Our continued commitment to and confidence in the A380 is why we're investing heavily to keep the fleet in optimal shape and pristine condition," Clark said. "The A380 will remain core to our network and customer proposition for the next decade, and we want to ensure our fleet is in tip-top shape." </p><p>The billion-dollar investment comes despite Airbus shutting down production of the A380 in 2021 after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-delivers-final-airbus-a380-as-more-airlines-reinstate-jet-2021-12">sending off its last double-decker to Emirates.</a></p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-a380-superjumbo-history-boeing-747-emirates-2017-11">planemaker ended the A380 program</a> for myriad reasons.</p><p>Not only was the jet's popularity dwindling as airlines sought out more fuel-efficient airliners like the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787, but the company was losing money on production.</p><p>"In the end, you have to face facts, and we could see that we were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/european-startup-airline-bought-a380-fly-between-the-us-uk-2023-5">building A380s faster than people were ordering them</a>," Bob Lange, Airbus' head of business analysis and market forecast, said in 2019.</p><p>But, despite the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-on-an-air-france-airbus-a380-photos-review-2020-5">pandemic travel lull that proved to be the nail in the coffin for many A380 fleets</a>, Emirates is doubling down. It sees the high-capacity, long-haul aircraft as a key to powering its hub-and-spoke business model — especially as the post-pandemic travel boom continues to rage on.</p><p>A handful of other carriers, like British Airways, Qantas, and Korean Air, are following Emirates' strategy, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-airlines-are-falling-back-in-love-with-airbus-a380-2021-10">using the A380 to maximize capacity</a> on high-demand routes.</p><p>In a 2021 interview with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/business/qantas-ceo-travel-outlook/index.html">CNN</a>, former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce described the A380 as the "perfect vehicle" to handle the pent-up COVID demand, specifically pointing to routes between its Australian hubs and places like London and Los Angeles.</p><p>Emirates' recent announcement is the latest example of its commitment to the A380. In January, the first of 67 superjumbos completed its full cabin overhaul as part of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/see-emirates-a380-first-class-suite-bar-shower-2023-6">Emirates' $2 billion retrofit program.</a></p><p>The most significant change is the addition of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/emirates-premium-economy-cabin-on-a380-tour-2023-5">premium economy, a first for Emirates.</a></p>

How Emirates will keep the world's largest airliner flying for years to come —even though Airbus doesn't make it anymore

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Egypt bought an 11-year-old Boeing 747-8 from the planemaker and is modifying it for executive use.</li><li>The jumbo jet is practically new, having only flown a handful of flights since being built in 2011.</li></ul><p>The beloved Boeing 747 may have lost interest from airlines but it lives on as a popular executive transport aircraft.</p><p>The mammoth 747 made its first commercial flight with Pan Am in 1970, launching the era of widebody, long-haul transit. Powered by four engines, the plane could fly across the Atlantic and, for the first time, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-evolution-of-transatlantic-flying-in-photos-2021-10#the-first-widebody-jet-was-the-famous-boeing-747-which-revolutionized-long-haul-air-travel-the-jumbo-jet-doubled-the-capacity-of-the-707-and-solved-the-problem-of-congested-airports-packed-with-travelers-7">made travel affordable for people other than just the rich and famous</a>. </p><p>Now, after over half a century of production, Boeing's revolutionary 747 program will come to an end this year as the company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-one-last-boeing-747-jets-built-everett-factory-tour-2022-6">builds its last-ever jumbo jet</a>. The final plane — a 747-8 freighter — will go to cargo carrier Atlas Air.</p><div type="image" title="Boeing 747 Factory Tour." height="1875" width="2500" msid="93970753" hostid="261" sizebytes="441578"></div><p>The plane's demise came as airlines started favoring more fuel-efficient twin-engine, widebody planes that could make the trek across the Atlantic, but at lower operating costs, like the Boeing 787 or the Airbus A350.</p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic was the nail in the coffin for many 747s as carriers like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-see-inside-a-retired-boeing-747-party-plane-2022-8">British Airways</a>, KLM, Qantas, and Virgin Atlantic <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-havoc-forces-airlines-to-retire-iconic-planes-sooner-2020-3#virgin-atlantic-airways-boeing-747-400-12">sped up their retirement</a>.</p><p>While airlines worldwide are parking their 747s, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-the-25-year-history-of-boeing-business-jets-2021-12">jumbo jet still remains popular with country governments</a>. The latest nation to take ownership of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-see-retired-boeing-747-planes-converted-hotels-tourism-museum-2022-2">Queen of the Skies</a> is Egypt, which purchased the jet, <a href="https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-8-n828ba-boeing/3w8glq">registered SU-EGY</a>, in 2021, <a href="https://simpleflying.com/7478-lufthansa-egypt-vip/">per Simple Flying</a>.</p><p>The 747-8 will replace the country's 28-year-old Airbus A340 government plane.</p><p>To fly as an executive jet, SU-EGY needs some modifications. According to Simple Flying, the jet was sent to Hamburg for an interior outfit by maintenance, repair, and overhaul services company Lufthansa Technik.</p><p>After what appears to be about nine months of cabin work, the 747 then flew from Hamburg to Shannon, Ireland, <a href="https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SUEGY">per FlightAware data</a>, to get a new paint job.</p><p>The company doing the work is International Aerospace Coatings (IAC), which has <a href="https://iac.aero/2019-the-year-of-the-special-livery/">completed projects like</a> United Airlines' Star Wars-themed livery on a 737-800 and Allegiant Air's Las Vegas Golden Knights paint job on an A319.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-business-jet-747-8i-private-photos-interior-2020-3#the-master-bedroom-is-found-in-the-nose-of-the-aircraft-located-directly-under-the-cockpit-situated-at-the-very-front-of-the-fuselage-the-nose-is-the-most-private-section-of-the-aircraft-and-quietest-since-its-away-from-the-engines-4">Like other VIP transport 747s</a>, the plane is expected to have a luxury interior similar to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-we-know-about-the-air-force-one-replacement-project-2020-7">Air Force One in the US</a> or the Qatari government's former 747-8i.</p><div type="image" title="Inside the master bedroom of a Boeing Business Jet 747-8i." height="768" width="1024" msid="93970755" hostid="261" sizebytes="59986"></div><p>Soon, Egypt will join the myriad countries using the Queen of the Skies as a government transport plane, proving the outdated 747 is still a beloved aircraft in modern times.</p><p>Here are all of the nations that use the iconic jumbo jet for VIP use.</p><h2><strong>US</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Air Force One." height="768" width="1024" msid="93970757" hostid="261" sizebytes="27364"></div><p>The US currently operates <a href="https://www.boeing.com/defense/air-force-one/index.page">two Boeing 747-200 aircraft</a> for presidential use but is spending an estimated $5.3 billion to upgrade the fleet to more efficient 747-8s. The original models were first used by President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s.</p><h2><strong>China</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Air China Boeing 747-8." height="3533" width="4711" msid="93970760" hostid="261" sizebytes="315636"></div><p>China does not have a dedicated presidential jet, but instead <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/presidential-jets-from-around-the-world-2019-4#however-with-the-747-400-becoming-increasingly-dated-beijing-is-reportedly-working-on-a-converting-one-of-air-chinas-747-8-intercontinental-airliners-into-a-full-time-presidential-jet-9">borrows 747-400 airliners from Air China</a> for ad hoc VIP transport missions. <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2017/12/flight-delayed-chinas-air-force-one-yet-carry-xi/">According to the Asia Times</a>, the country is reportedly converting an Air China 747-8 to use exclusively for presidential flights due to repeated mechanical and security issues on the -400s.</p><h2><strong>South Korea</strong></h2><div type="image" title="South Korea's Code One 747." height="724" width="965" msid="93970761" hostid="261" sizebytes="23600"></div><p>The Korean government has outfitted a former Korean Air 747-8i for presidential use, <a href="https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/29986-south-korea-code-one-president-plane">per Aerotime</a>. The plane, dubbed "Code One," replaced the country's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/presidential-jets-from-around-the-world-2019-4#7-the-republic-of-korea-the-south-korean-president-conducts-official-state-visits-using-a-converted-boeing-747-400-leased-from-korean-air-16">converted 747-400 VIP transport jet</a> that was leased from Korean Air.</p><h2><strong>Kuwait</strong></h2><div type="image" title="State of Kuwait 747." height="722" width="962" msid="93970763" hostid="261" sizebytes="28674"></div><p>Kuwait operates a VIP Boeing 747-8, which has been in service since November 2012, <a href="https://www.planespotters.net/airline/State-of-Kuwait">according to Planespotters</a>.</p><h2><strong>Morocco</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Moroccan government 747." height="722" width="962" msid="93970766" hostid="261" sizebytes="31106"></div><p>The Moroccan government operates an 11-year-old 747-8, which was donated to the country by the Abu Dhabi government, <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/2017/09/the-vip-jets-of-world-leaders/">per The Points Guy</a>.</p><h2><strong>Oman</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Omani Royal Flight's parked 747SP." height="724" width="965" msid="93970768" hostid="261" sizebytes="19844"></div><p>The Royal Flight of Oman is the country's non-military VIP transport fleet. <a href="https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Royal-Flight-of-Oman">According to Planespotters</a>, the nation has two jets in service, including a 747-400 and a 747-8, and one parked 747SP.</p><h2><strong>Turkey</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Turkish government Boeing Business Jet 747-8i" height="1446" width="1928" msid="93970769" hostid="261" sizebytes="47832"></div><p>Turkey's VIP 747-8i was gifted from the Qatar royal family in 2018, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45550537">according to the BBC</a>. The ultra-luxurious $500 million jet can carry 76 passengers and has seven bedrooms and two boardrooms.</p><h2><strong>Bahrain</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Bahrain Amiri Flight 747." height="747" width="996" msid="93970770" hostid="261" sizebytes="52210"></div><p>The Bahrain government operates a 747-400 for VIP transport, <a href="https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Bahrain-Royal-Flight">per Planespotters</a>.</p><h2><strong>Brunei</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Brunei 747-400." height="724" width="965" msid="93970771" hostid="261" sizebytes="47130"></div><p>Brunei's parked 747-400 presidential plane was unique because it was flown by the Sultan himself, Hassanal Bolkiah, who <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obama-brunei/sultan-of-brunei-flies-himself-to-washington-meets-obama-idUSBRE92B0TM20130312">flew it to meet with President Barack Obama</a> in 2013. </p><p><a href="https://thepointsguy.com/2017/09/the-vip-jets-of-world-leaders/">According to The Points Guy</a>, the ultra-wealthy Sultan used some of his own money to purchase the jet from Lufthansa and used to fly it around the world. The interior is reportedly gold-plated and nicknamed "the flying palace," <a href="https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3174250/how-sultan-brunei-hassanal-bolkiah-spends-his-billions">per the South China Morning Post</a>.</p><p>The plane has since been parked and replaced with a 747-8 model, per TPG.</p>

The iconic Boeing 747 was retired by most airlines during the pandemic, but it's still used by world governments. See the countries flying the jumbo jet.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mercedes-Benz</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Mercedes-Benz decided to one-up other attendees at the Monaco Yacht show by not just <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-yacht-arrow460-granturismo-pictures-2016-9" target="_blank">debuting its yacht</a>, but for its VIP plane as well.</p><p>The luxury car maker worked with a Lufthansa subsidiary, Lufthansa Technik, to design the plane's interior. The plane design is developed for a medium-haul plane like the <span>Airbus A320 and fits 16 people.</span></p><p>Scroll down for a closer look:</p>

Mercedes just unveiled a stunning private plane design with 5 separate rooms

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div>YANG YUANQING, Lenovo's boss, hardly spoke a word of English until he was about 40: he grew up in rural poverty and read engineering at university.</p>
<p>But when Lenovo bought IBM's personal-computer division in 2005 he decided to immerse himself in English: he moved his family to North Carolina, hired a language tutor and-the ultimate sacrifice-spent hours watching cable-TV news.</p>
<p>This week he was in São Paulo, Brazil, for a board meeting and an earnings call: he conducted all his business in English except for a briefing for the Chinese press.</p>
<p>Lenovo is one of a growing number of multinationals from the non-Anglophone world that have made English their official language. The fashion began in places with small populations but global ambitions such as Singapore (which retained English as its lingua franca when it left the British empire in 1963), the Nordic countries and Switzerland. Goran Lindahl, a former boss of ABB, a Swiss-Swedish engineering giant, once described its official language as "poor English". The practice spread to the big European countries: numerous German and French multinationals now use English in board meetings and official documents.</p>
<p>Audi may use a German phrase-Vorsprung durch Technik, or progress through engineering-in its advertisements, but it is impossible to progress through its management ranks without good English. When Christoph Franz became boss of Lufthansa in 2011 he made English its official language even though all but a handful of the airline's 50 most senior managers were German.</p>
<p>The Académie française may be prickly about the advance of English. But there is no real alternative as a global business language. The most plausible contender, Mandarin Chinese, is one of the world's most difficult to master, and least computer-friendly. It is not even universal in China: more than 400m people there do not speak it.</p>
<p>Corporate English is now invading more difficult territory, such as Japan. Rakuten, a cross between Amazon and eBay, and Fast Retailing, which operates the Uniqlo fashion chain, were among the first to switch. Now they are being joined by old-economy companies such as Honda, a carmaker, and Bridgestone, a tyremaker. Chinese firms are proving harder to crack: they have a huge internal market and are struggling to recruit competent managers of any description, let alone English-speakers. But some are following Lenovo's lead. Huawei has introduced English as a second language and encourages high-flyers to become fluent. Around 300m Chinese are taking English lessons.</p>
<p>There are some obvious reasons why multinational companies want a lingua franca. Adopting English makes it easier to recruit global stars (including board members), reach global markets, assemble global production teams and integrate foreign acquisitions. Such steps are especially important to companies in Japan, where the population is shrinking.</p>
<p>There are less obvious reasons too. Rakuten's boss, Hiroshi Mikitani, argues that English promotes free thinking because it is free from the status distinctions which characterise Japanese and other Asian languages. Antonella Mei-Pochtler of the Boston Consulting Group notes that German firms get through their business much faster in English than in laborious German. English can provide a neutral language in a merger: when Germany's Hoechst and France's Rhône-Poulenc combined in 1999 to create Aventis, they decided it would be run in English, in part to avoid choosing between their respective languages.</p>
<p>Tsedal Neeley of Harvard Business School says that "Englishnisation", a word she borrows from Mr Mikitani, can stir up a hornet's nest of emotions. Slow learners lose their self-confidence, worry about their job security, clam up in meetings or join a guerrilla resistance that conspires in its native language. Cliques of the fluent and the non-fluent can develop. So can lawsuits: in 2004 workers at a French subsidiary of GE took it to court for requiring them to read internal documents in English; the firm received a hefty fine. In all, a policy designed to bring employees together can all too easily have the opposite effect.</p>
<p>Ms Neeley argues that companies must think carefully about implementing a policy that touches on so many emotions. Senior managers should explain to employees why switching to English is so important, provide them with classes and conversation groups, and offer them incentives to improve their fluency, such as foreign postings. Those who are already proficient in English should speak more slowly and refrain from dominating conversations. And managers must act as referees and enforcers, resolving conflicts and discouraging staff from reverting to their native tongues. Mr Mikitani, who was a fluent English speaker himself, at first told his employees to pay for their own lessons and gave them two years to become fluent, on pain of demotion or even dismissal. He later realised that he had been too harsh, and started providing lessons on company time.</p>
<h3>Nuance and emotion, or waffle?</h3>
<p>Intergovernmental bodies like the European Union, which employs a babbling army of translators costing $1.5 billion a year, are obliged to pretend that there is no predominant global tongue. But businesses worldwide are facing up to the reality that English is the language on which the sun never sets. Still, Englishnisation is not easy, even if handled well: the most proficient speakers can still struggle to express nuance and emotion in a foreign tongue. For this reason, native English speakers often assume that the spread of their language in global corporate life confers an automatic advantage on them. In fact it can easily encourage them to rest on their laurels. Too many of them (especially Englishmen, your columnist keeps being told) risk mistaking their fluency in meetings for actual accomplishments.</p>
<p><em>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist.</em></p>
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You Searched For "lufthansa technik" and got 8 results

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