President Bola Tinubu is set to depart Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Monday for a trip to Paris, France, his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said in a statement on Sunday.
It would be the president’s first time aboard a new presidential jet.
Mr Ngelale did not disclose how long Mr Tinubu would stay in France or what his engagements would be during that period. He only said the President would return to Nigeria “after his brief work stay” in that European country, PREMIUM TIMES reports.
PREMIUM TIMES, however, learnt that Tinubu’s Monday trip to Paris would be his first aboard Nigeria’s new presidential jet. Sources said the jet landed at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The aircraft was received by officials of Nigeria’s Presidential Air Fleet, led by their commander, Olayinka Olusola, an air vice marshal. The Airbus 330 aircraft is a repossessed one recovered from an indebted oil sheikh who used the aeroplane as collateral for a loan he obtained from an unidentified German bank to buy it.
L & L International LLC, an American aviation firm based in Miami, Florida, brokered the deal, which saw Nigeria buy the aircraft for over $100 million. A presidency official described the acquisition as an excellent deal for Nigeria, putting the aircraft’s real market value in the region of $600 million, according to PREMIUM TIMES
The 5N-FGA Airbus 330-200 is 14 years, and nine months old and the production site is Toulouse. The A330-200 aircraft with serial number 1043, which made its very first flight on the 10th of September, 2009 October has a seat configuration of F25 and engine type 2 x RR Trent 772B-60.
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid-1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along with their first orders in June 1987.
The A330-300, the first variant, took its maiden flight in November 1992 and entered service with Air Inter in January 1994.
The slightly shorter A330-200 variant followed in 1998 with Canada 3000 as the launch operator.
