Nicolas Sarkozy spends £157m on keeping up with the presidential jet set

Nicolas Sarkozy spends £157m on keeping up with the presidential jet set

Adam Sage in Paris

The ignominy is evidently too much to bear. When he flies to international summits President Sarkozy is confronted by a number of private jets that dwarf his French Airbus A319.

Even the Spanish and German leaders arrive in bigger aircraft, let alone Barack Obama’s mighty Air Force One.

Next month work will begin on a project to give Mr Sarkozy wings in keeping with his ambitions when French engineers take possession of an aircraft that will be turned into an ultra-modern presidential airliner.

Although not quite as big as the Boeing 747-200 that is Air Force One, the French A330-200 will be at least ten metres longer and two metres higher that the aircraft used by other European leaders. It will also be far more luxurious — as befits a man who called Mr Obama inexperienced, questioned the intellect of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, and disparaged Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, in comments to MPs last week.

RELATED LINKS
Sarkozy takes a swipe at ’weak’ President Obama
Uneasy Sarkozy sees angry workers turn to bossnapping
The aircraft will have desks for Mr Sarkozy and a secretary, a meeting room for 12 people and a medical cabinet equipped to deal “with all emergencies”, according to Les Echos, the financial daily. There will be seating for 60 passengers and a bedroom and private bathroom, although aides denied rumours that this would have a full-size bath for Carla Bruni.

An encrypted communications system will be installed by Thales, the French defence electronics company, to keep the President in private contact with advisers. The company will fit anti-missile protection, which is likely to involve radars to detect attacks and decoy flares.

Work will begin on the ten-year-old A330-200 once it has been delivered to the Toulouse region of southwest France. The aircraft, which was bought from Air Caraibes, the Caribbean airline, is expected to come into service next year.

Continue to read:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6135778.ece