In Reply to: I'd take it anyway to ruin his image. Renting a jumbo jet to posted by HasBen on March 21, 2024 at 17:35:56
term has been applied to any wide body aircraft. el Trumpo's 757 is a narrow body jet. The longest narrow body jet there is, but still a narrow body jet. Basically exactly as wide a 737.
As to selling it, yes it would be tough. As DrJ says no airline would buy it. They're all buying more fuel efficient new generation planes. If it were configured to carry passengers (and not a VIP) it might have a market in Africa or Central Asia or somewhere as a one off. But as it is the only possibility would be another rich person who wanted more than an exec jet but couldn't afford a newer and/or widebody plane. But even that would be unlikely because the long, narrow nature of the plane isn't really suited to a VIP configuration. It would be like having a private train. And I'm sure it's garish and lame inside. To change it significantly would cost more than the plane is worth.
I think it would end up parked in the desert.
As for chartering instead of owning, it could end up about the same cost. When you charter a jet you pay the operators (owners) profit margin, but you don't have to pay any of the costs associated with having it when it's not in use. But either way, most of the cost of a trip whether you own the plane or charter it are variable and tied to the flight hours (mostly fuel and opportunity cost).
And I don't think there is anybody who will wet lease you a VIP configured plane that big. Maybe if a leasing company was stuck with one that was originally supposed to go to a customer but it fell through or something.
The sensible thing to do would be to charter exec jets for his trips. After having the 757, buying a much smaller G700 or something (around 75 million) and branding it with his T on the tail would be a bit of let down, but that would also be a reasonable option for his needs.