MEXICO CITY The luxurious presidential airplane that Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has been trying to sell returned to the capital Wednesday after drawing a bid while it was in a hangar in the United States.
Lpez Obrador has been flying commercial airlines or travelling by road since taking office in late 2018, and views the custom Boeing 787 jet as a symbol of wasteful luxury. He bought regular airline tickets for his first trip abroad to Washington in earlier July, with layovers both ways.
Lpez Obrador recently revealed that the government has received a $120 million offer in cash and medical equipment for the plane. But the government has not revealed the identity of the potential buyer, or why the plane was being brought back to Mexico.
Sales of tickets in a symbolic raffle for the plane have also resumed after a months-long pause caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly a quarter of the 6 million $25 tickets have been sold. Each of the 100 winners will collect about $1 million.
The plane was purchased for $200 million and was used by the previous president, Enrique Pea Nieto. It has been difficult to sell because it is configured to carry only 80 people and has a full presidential suite with a private bath. Experts say it would be costly to reconfigure into a typical passenger jet that would carry up to 300 passengers.
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