King Mswati III the absolute ruler of impoverished
Swaziland took
delivery of his second private jet on Friday amid secrecy
about the true cost of its purchase.
The A340-300 Airbus was flown into King Mswati III
Airport with great fanfare just days before he was due to celebrate his 50th
birthday.
Mbongeni
Mbingo, Managing Editor of the Swazi Observer Group, newspapers in effect
owned by the King, wrote on Sunday (15 April 2018), ‘The buzz that filled the
VIP Airport was one of sheer excitement as authorities, including those from
the King’s Office, marvelled at the Airbus A340-300 which stood there
monstrously.’
He added, ‘It was as if it was a statement of its own, the sheer size of
this new state aircraft fitting the status of the head of state, and justifying
the need for the country to go in search of a plane to cater for His Majesty
the King’s international trips.’
King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and
opponents are prosecuted under the Suppression
of Terrorism Act.
It has been widely reported within Swaziland and elsewhere that the
17-year-old plane cost US$13.2 million to purchase from
China Airlines in Taiwan. The A340 Airbus
is a long-range wide-bodied passenger plane. Usually, it seats 375 passengers
and has a range of 12,400 to 16,700 km (7,700 to 10,400 miles). Following the
purchase, the Airbus was completely refurbished. With the upgrades it
could now be worth as much as US$30 million, but it
has not been revealed how much the upgrades cost or where the work was carried
out. It was reported on the website
CH Aviation that the plane flew into Swaziland from
Hamburg, Germany.
In 2015, Luftfahrt-Versicherungslosungen
AG of Zurich, Switzerland, a specialist aviation brokerage company, was tasked
with finding insurance cover for the aircraft. It reported at the time the
‘agreed value’ of the plane to be US$15 million. It added, ‘Agreed value at
inception will be US$15 million increasing to US$30 million during completion
work over the next 11 to 12 months.’
Industry insiders said at the time the refurbishment costs could
be more than anticipated by Luftfahrt-Versicherungslosungen, depending on the
degree of luxury the King demanded. Plans were drawn up to build a state room,
a lounge and a royal lavatory on the aircraft. Similar planes with ‘VIP’
upgrades of their interior were being offered for sale on the Internet for
US$44 million.
A special hangar for the plane is to be built at King
Mswati III International Airport at a cost of E200
million (US$16.6 million), to house the Airbus and the King’s
other plane, a smaller modified McDonnel Douglas DC-9-87, also known as an
MD-87. That plane cost US$9.5 million in 2012.
King Mswati has a global reputation for living a lavish
lifestyle with fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars
and a Rolls Royce. The King has 13 palaces and he, his family, and their
entourage take expensive
international trips. Meanwhile, seven in ten of the
King’s 1.1 million subjects live in abject poverty on incomes of less than the
equivalent of US$2 per day.
In the week that he took delivery of the plane, Pakistan donated US$1
million to help feed
staving children in Swaziland because the Swazi Government says it cannot
afford to do so. In 2016 the United States announced it would
provide US$6.35 million in drought relief. This was US$1 million less than the
deposit paid at the time on the King’s plane. About 300,000 people in Swaziland
are still at risk of severe hunger as a result of drought and the government has
declared a state of emergency appealing for international aid donations.
There has been no public discussion on how much it
will cost to run the Airbus. Swaziland’s economy is in the doldrums and in March
2018 ahead of the national budget the King ordered his
ministers ‘to prepare a budget that
is based on available resources’. Finance Minister Martin Dlamini said in his
budget speech, ‘Government has conducted a thorough analysis of our expenditure
in order to prioritise only the most pressing concerns.’
It is possible to make an informed estimation on the
ongoing costs of the new plane. This is based on the known costs of the King’s
first plane, the much smaller MD-87. Documents seen by Swazi Media Commentary
revealed the jet cost US$9.5 million to purchase in 2012 and at least another
US$4.1 million was spent on refurbishments before the King took delivery.
In 2012 the King’s company Inchatsavane
signed an aircraft management operating agreement with Greek-based Gain Jet
Aviation. As part of the deal the King was required to deposit US$500,000,
described as ‘average two months operating costs’ to guarantee future payments.
On this basis the operating costs of the aircraft would be US$250,000 per month
or US$3 million per year. In the six years since the jet has been flying, the
operating costs would have reached US$18 million (about E216 million).
The figure set by Gain Jet Aviation was only an
estimate. Another estimate of costs of operating an MD-87 is available from Conklin and de Decker,
Aviation Information.
It has set the total fixed cost of the MD-87 at
US$1,124,525 for a year. This works out at US$93,710 per month.
Fixed costs are the costs that have to be paid even if
the plane never flies. Among the fixed costs it lists are salaries for the
pilot, the co-pilot and the flight attendant.
Conklin and de Decker set the variable costs at
US$9,736.20 per hour. Variable costs include fuel, maintenance, landing
charges at airports, staff expenses and catering.
The US$250,000 per month or US$9,736.20 per hour
anticipated for operating costs might be underestimates for the true cost of
flying King Mswati’s MD-87.
Gain Jet Aviation invoiced the Swaziland Ministry of
Foreign Affairs US$312,500 for a flight in June 2012 from Tokyo (Japan), to
Manzini (Swaziland). The flight was spread over two days and included fuel
stops in Danang (Vietnam), Male (Maldives), and Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania). The
total flying time for the journey was 20 hours 50 minutes.
The company billed for a total of US$312,500, which
works out at about US$14,880 per hour.
In August 2014, Gain Jet Aviation invoiced for a trip that was going to take place the following month over 14 days from Swaziland – Tanzania – Maldives – Malaysia – India – Egypt – Nice (France) – Cameroon – Swaziland. The total estimated number of flying hours was 39 hours 35 minutes.
In August 2014, Gain Jet Aviation invoiced for a trip that was going to take place the following month over 14 days from Swaziland – Tanzania – Maldives – Malaysia – India – Egypt – Nice (France) – Cameroon – Swaziland. The total estimated number of flying hours was 39 hours 35 minutes.
The invoice total was for US$593,750.00, which works
out at about US$14,843 per hour.
In 2015 the MD-87 was impounded during legal disputes and the King leased jets for his travels. Papers filed in a court in Canada revealed he refused to use one jet that had been chartered for him at a cost of more than US$1 million because it only had one toilet, so, a second aircraft was chartered for him at a cost of US$1.425 million.
In 2015 the MD-87 was impounded during legal disputes and the King leased jets for his travels. Papers filed in a court in Canada revealed he refused to use one jet that had been chartered for him at a cost of more than US$1 million because it only had one toilet, so, a second aircraft was chartered for him at a cost of US$1.425 million.
Richard
Rooney
Picture: Swazi Observer photograph of King Mswati’s A340-300 Airbus at King Mswati III International Airport in Swaziland.
See also
MONEY
FOR KING’S JET, BUT NOT DROUGHT
KING’S
COMPANY AT CENTRE OF JET ROW
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/kings-company-at-centre-of-jet-row.html
