Luxury jet travel comes to Kenya

Walking out of the Fly 540 hangar at Wilson Airport, Nairobi, I’m a bit disappointed because the plane in front of us looks like any other, silver with blue and red strips, nothing spectacular.

Ten steps later, I’m inside the McDonnell Douglas DC 9-15. And even before I take two steps, I realise this is not your usual everyday plane, it is exactly what it was touted to be – a luxury jet and much more.

To top it all, it is said to be Nelson Mandela’s former plane. One of the two private planes he flew when he was president of South Africa, says Don Smith, one of the directors at SAX Aviation – formerly East African Safari Airline- and Fly540 and the company that now owns this jet.

Executives

“Isn’t she a beauty?” he asks as he welcomes us into the plane.

Once you get the full effect of the interior, you have to agree with him. For Don, the whole experience is like a small boy learning to play with his new $1 million (Sh85 million) investment.

Don says he saw a gap in the market to fly corporate executives, government officials, or those who can simply afford it in style and luxury and decided to make the investment.

He and the directors of his airline company decided on the investment from the demand they have seen in the recent past mainly driven by leaders from neighbouring countries without presidential jets who ask for the service from Kenya.

Schedule

“Fly 540 was chartered by Burundi’s president for a trip to Rome for a night. The airline has also carried Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, when his plane was unavailable,” he says.

He also added that Somalia and Southern Sudan do not have their own executive planes, yet, forcing leaders from those countries to charter planes from Wilson Airport whenever the needs arises.

Executive jets are designed to transport industry big wigs, celebrities, government officials and anyone who can afford them around the world in sheer comfort and at their own schedule.

For $7,000 an hour, (Sh595,000, inclusive of navigation fees), one gets to fly in utmost comfort, privacy and with flexibility on the itinerary.

For that price, one can fly from one meeting in Mombasa to Entebbe and Dar-es-Salaam before returning to Nairobi – and all this in one day.

Kenyans, especially corporate captains and politicians, are known to hire helicopters when they want to visit several corners of the country.

But these are nothing when it comes to comfort compared to this private jet. The plane is literally like a penthouse in the air with all the privacy one would need and top-of-the range amenities. The walls are covered in beige leather to match the tan leather executive seats.

The twin engine plane can fly non-stop for six hours, and has a reserve fuel tank, though its consumption is slightly more than newer jets as it’s an older plane. It can accommodate 22 passengers comfortably with a crew of three.

It comes with five seating areas with each area having a foldable table, with the side panels having a glass holder and nine control buttons.

Space

Unlike the toilet in commercial planes where one can barely turn, the toilets here are spacious, lined with the same leather as the main cabin, with gold-plated taps and sink.

There is plenty of storage space for all kinds of amenities including a small closet to hang your coat, no need to step out of an executive plane with a wrinkled suit, especially since most of the passengers in these planes walk straight into a meeting from the airport.

The DC9-15 has a rich history as a business jetliner with the first delivered to renowned investor Kirk Kerkorian, in April 1968. He is the president of Tracinda Corporation in the US and one of the important figures in shaping Las Vegas.

This, however, is not the first executive jet in the country, local airline Phoenix Aviation are also players in the local executive jet market having introduced a Cessna Citation Excel 560 in 2010.