Mexicans will no longer have to worry about where to park a Boeing Dreamliner when the Mexican government raffles off the luxurious presidential jet — the Mexican Air Force will keep it.
In fact, nobody will win the actual US$130 million Boeing 787 in the lottery-style raffle to be held in the next few months.
Among the many desperate attempts to get rid of the expensive plane, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had toyed with the idea of actually awarding the plane to the winner, along with a year’s paid maintenance and parking.
Photo: AP
However, Lopez Obrador had worried that would cause problems for the winner, because of the greed it could unleash among friends, relatives and acquaintances, and because the idea had been lampooned on social media, with people posting pictures of shacks or taco stands with a jetliner parked outside.
The president on Friday announced that the raffle would be symbolic, awarding total prize money of US$100 million, which lottery tickets state is “equivalent to the value of the presidential jet.”
One hundred winners are to divide equal shares of the total prize pool.
“We did not want to award a prize that would be a problem,” Lopez Obrador said. “You know, the memes — ‘where would I park it?’”
Instead, a cash prize winner would be free to use some of their winnings to rent the plane for a few trips, at the current hourly operating price of about US$13,500 per hour, he said.
The latest scheme did not convince Mexico City graphic designer Antonio Perez, who had hoped the president could simply sell the white elephant, without hitting up Mexicans to buy lottery tickets.
“I agree with some of the president’s initiatives, but on this one, specifically, I don’t agree, because the ones who wind up paying for the plane are going to be the people of Mexico,” Perez said.
Lopez Obrador had tried to sell the plane, but it failed to find a buyer after a year on sale at a US airstrip, where it piled up about US$1.5 million in maintenance costs.
Novelist Eric Marvaz agreed that the whole thing seemed comic, but said that at least the president was speaking directly to the people and not trying to hide anything.
“I think it is quite a hilarious situation, but at least for the first time we’re laughing, not crying,” Marvaz said.
The government hopes to sell 6 million tickets at about US$25 apiece, raising US$150 million. The remaining money is to pay to keep the airplane in flight condition while Lopez Obrador tries to sell or rent it. Any net proceeds would go to buy medical equipment.
Lopez Obrador flies tourist class on commercial flights and views the jet, bought for more than US$200 million by his predecessor, as wasteful.
Experts say it would be too expensive to reconfigure back into a commercial airliner.
Previously, Lopez Obrador had suggested bartering the plane in exchange for US medical equipment or selling it in shares to a group of businessmen for executive incentive programs.
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
RSS