Saudi Prince Alwaleed buys his own A380 jumbo jet

[babylonsister]

Saudi Prince Alwaleed buys his own A380 jumbo jet


An Airbus A380 on display at the 2007 Dubai air show.
Enlarge image Enlarge By Karim Sahib, AFP/Getty Images


By Tim Hepher, Reuters

PARIS — Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has become the first person to buy the ultimate status symbol — his own A380 superjumbo jet.

Planemaker Airbus named the Saudi royal, whose interests span hotels and banking and the operator of Disneyland Paris, as the mystery buyer of a VIP version dubbed the Flying Palace.

The buyer's identity had been secret for months but was announced to coincide with the Dubai air show Monday.

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Price of the deal was not disclosed. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich recently denied buying the plane, which costs more than $300 million to airlines.

Prince Alwaleed confirmed the order despite seeing $2.5 billion wiped off his personal fortune the past month due to a slide in the shares of U.S. banking group Citigroup (C).

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2007-11-12-prince-alwaleed-a380_N.htm?csp=34

[originalpckelly]

1. I'd like to make a correction: US oil consumers buy Alwaleed new A380.

:P

[acmavm]

2. That's more like it.

Don't we give foreign aid to the Saudis?

<snip>

U.S. lawmakers cheered as the House of Representatives voted on Thursday to strip financial assistance for Saudi Arabia from a foreign aid bill because of criticism that the country has not been sufficiently cooperative in the U.S. war on terror.

The vote was a stinging defeat for the Bush Administration which had strongly opposed the measure saying it would "severely undermine" counterterrorism cooperation with Saudi Arabia and U.S. efforts for peace in the Middle East.

The House voted 217-191 to remove $25,000 in the $19.4 billion 2005 foreign aid bill earmarked for Saudi Arabia.

The funds were designated for military training but approval would have triggered millions of dollars in discounts on hardware and other military training, lawmakers said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/16/content_349153.htm

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Why the fuck do we give foreign aid to the Saudis?

[LadyAziz]

3. Rich people compete for the most stupidest stuff

Alwaleed is the only member of the al Saud family that I can stomach (yeah,I didn't think it could be possible:P).

He already has a private jet and I am sure the poor and jobless Saudis will rejoice upon hearing this news :eyes: