Badajoz airport is not exactly the type of airfield that often appears in the news. Badajoz airport received the emir of Dubai’s private Boeing 747 in 2016. The landing forced the runway, stairs and trailers to be adapted to operate the largest aircraft in its global aviation history.
According to data collected by OndaZeroit is a modest regional airport, with little more than 107,000 passengers per year and around 4,500 annual operations. But on an afternoon in April 2016, the staff at that airport experienced the three most stressful hours in its history: had to completely adapt to receive the largest private plane that had ever set foot on its runway.
What landed that day at the Extremaduran airfield was not a private jet to use. It was a Boeing 747-400 Combi owned by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. A device designed to transport up to 530 passengers that, in its private version, serves as a flying embassy and residence of the Arab leader.
What is an emir like you doing in a place like this?
As and how I collected The Gulf Courierthe emir’s visit to the Extremadura airport was not a coincidence. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum arrived with a delegation of about 30 people to inspect the new farm he had purchased in the vicinity of Táliga, an area of about 200 hectares of oak forest.
Although it was the first time that the emir in person made an appearance in Badajoz, the presence of his representatives in the area was not new. According what was published by The Vanguard That same year, several members of royal families from the Persian Gulf had acquired estates in Extremadura, attracted by the extension of the pasture, the privacy of the rural environment and the proximity to high-level equestrian routes. The Olivenza region accumulates several of these properties and, since then, Sheikh Mohammed has visited the area on more than one occasion with the same device.
Landing a Boeing 747 at a regional airport is not only an air transport operation, it involves a whole logistical challenge for infrastructure. Unaccustomed to receiving aircraft of such size, the airport authorities had to expand safety zones on the track, the resistance of the pavement and even adapt the taxi route on the runway to guarantee an adequate height.
In addition, they had to provide themselves with larger access stairs, because the ones they usually used did not reach to the double deck of the Boeing 747.
Something similar happened with towing vehicles, suitable for moving smaller commercial aircraft, but without enough power to maneuver such a colossus. According to details LuxuryLaunchesthe airport also had to enable higher capacity generators to keep the VIP cabin and the plane’s air conditioning system operational while the president’s visit to his Táliga estate lasted.
The Badajoz airport met the minimum requirements to operate aircraft of this caliber, but needed to adapt to a very unusual maneuver for a regional airport in Extremadura. The visit lasted three hours. The preparations, much more.
A flying presidential residence
He Emir of Dubai’s “private jet” It has nothing to do with conventional private jets, and looks more like a flying palace than a commercial airliner. The front area houses the private bedroom with the Sheikh’s suite, lavishly decorated with gold taps and shower. In the center is the majlis, a reception space of Arab tradition, where the emir meets with his council during the journey. In the rear, a dining room functions as a meeting room with capacity for 26 people, and on the upper deck there are eight minisuites with seats that convert into beds to accommodate the entourage that accompanies him on each of his trips.
Even the cockpit has its own particular detail: the throttle levers and flap controls are covered in gold.
The Combi configuration of the device also allows cargo to be transported in the rear section, with containers enabled for the emir’s horsesthe main reason for the successive purchase operations of land and properties in the Extremaduran pasture. The emir’s intention was use them as breeding spaces for his stud farm and organize private equestrian raids on his land.
Image | Wikimedia Commons (Cybaaudi, Konstantin Von Wedelstaedt)
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