Businessman Denis O’Brien’s new €60 million-plus Gulfstream jet has been delivered to Dublin Airport.
The aircraft, which has been described in online reviews as the “jet that all billionaires want”, replaces an earlier 2013 Gulfstream he was using and which he has put up for sale.
The new jet, which bears an Isle of Man registration but has an Irish tricolour on the tail wing, is said to be the fastest and most luxurious business jet on the market. The G650ER is the flagship model in the Gulfstream range and can travel more than 8,500 miles at more than 660 miles per hour.
Mr O’Brien, owner of 29 per cent of Independent News & Media and a number of radio stations in the Republic, has business operations around the globe and has had his own jet for a number of years.
He frequently visits the Caribbean and the Pacific islands, where his mobile phone company Digicel operates. Mr O’Brien is also a regular traveller to the the United States and and Asia. Such is the amount of travel he does that the succession of jets he has owned are understood to have run up more air miles than similar jets of the same model and age owned by others.
Selling
Pilot Nick Robshaw, speaking on a video on the website of the US company that is selling Mr O’Brien’s former Gulfstream jet, said it can “comfortably” go from southeast Asia to Europe in one trip and that, as well as such journeys, it was also used to “hop around” Europe. It can travel up to 7,000 miles carrying eight passengers at up to 580 miles an hour.
Mr Robshaw, on the O’Gara Jets website, said the jet typically flew for 900 hours a year – “probably about double” what other Gulfstream aircraft do.
The new Gulfstream can sleep up to 10. The jet comes with an option of 12 pre-designed floor plans or the possibility to customise its interior.
Business jets can significantly reduce how tiring travelling can be and the cabin of the G650ER is replenished with 100 per cent fresh air every two minutes, according to the Gulfstream website.It comes with two multichannel satellite communications systems and a wireless local network.
There is reportedly a three to four-year waiting list for the jet, which is made in Georgia, US.
