British Prime Minister David Cameron is getting his own 'Air Force One'
By Benjamin Zhang22 hours ago
Now, British Prime Minister David Cameron will get his own ministerial plane and will no longer have to charter privately-owned aircraft.
Prime Minister Cameron's new plane will be an Airbus A330MRTT Voyager, the BBC reported.
The aircraft, which belongs to the Royal Air Force, will be converted from its current fuel tanker configuration to ministerial transport.
According to the BBC, the conversion will cost roughly $15 million and is expected to save $1.2 million a year for the next 20 years.
Currently, it costs the British Government roughly $10,000 per hour to charter planes for the Prime Minister, a source told the British news agency. With the new plane, that cost drops to around $3,000 per hour.
The conversion for ministerial duties would include the addition of 158 passenger seats and an advanced secure communications system.
The British said that the aircraft will retain Royal Air Force livery and be used as a tanker when not deployed for official travel.
The Airbus A330 MRTT (MRTT stands for Multi Role Tanker Transport) is based on the Airbus A330-200 wide-body airliner. According to Airbus Defense, 52 of the aircraft have been sold to seven air forces around the world including the United Kingdom, France and Australia.
The A330 MRTT — valued at more than $200 million per plane — has a range of 8,000 nautical miles and can fly at 0.86 times the speed of sound.
Earlier this year, the US Air Force announced that a new Boeing 747-8I based aircraft will succeed the VC-25A in 2018.
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