Attention hip hop stars and billionaires: the world's biggest airliner, the
73-metre-long (239-feet) Airbus A380 superjumbo, has been ordered by a
mysterious buyer for use as a private jet.
The order sets new heights in the private plane sector, leaving the Learjet,
which used to be the ultimate symbol of ostentatious air travel, in second
class.

The doubledecker A380, which enters service later this year, is capable of
carrying 840 passengers, has 900 square metres (10,000 square feet) of cabin
space and towers over its biggest rival, the Boeing 747.

Airbus sales director John Leahy declined to say when or to where the jet
would be delivered, but fitting the plane to the specification demanded from
the buyer is expected to take more than a year.

"It will be for personal use for him and his entourage," Leahy told AFP on
the sidelines of the Paris Air Show.

"I can't tell you who it is but he's not from Europe or the United States."

The buyer is likely to have paid over 300 million dollars (224 million
euros) for the standard plane, according to the latest Airbus catalogue
prices, but will then have customisation costs estimated at 50-150 million
dollars.

Aage Duenhaupt, communications director for Lufthansa Technik, which
converts large commercial aircraft into private jets, said most clients for
private airliners came from the oil-rich Middle East.

"Buyers are rich individuals or governments and mostly situated in the
Middle East," he told AFP.