With $88 million you could buy 110 median Auckland homes, 440 Teslas or fly to and from the Gold Coast everyday for 80 years.
But for some wealthy businesspeople spending this huge amount of money on travel could be as normal as filling up the Suzuki Swift for the daily work commute across Auckland.
French private jet maker Dassault is looking for exactly those people for its new Falcon 8x jet, with a hefty US$60 million (NZ$88m) price tag in New Zealand and Australia.
There are four Dassault private jets in New Zealand, the jet maker says, all are second hand. A used version of the earlier Falcon 7x model can cost between US$20m and US$40m, but a brand new one would set you back about US$53m.
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Elon Musk owns two Dassault jets, but New Zealand’s richest man Graeme Hart and film director Sir Peter Jackson both own competing Gulfstream private jets.
So what makes these jets so grand?
Dassault Falcon Asia Pacific president Jean Michel-Jacob likened the Falcon 8x to a "flying carpet" because it could land pretty much anywhere its owner desires.
"The planes can go to international destinations that commercial airlines don’t serve," Michel-Jacob said.
The jets can land on ice in Antarctica, in the middle of London or in the rough terrains of Papua New Guinea, Michel-Jacob said. And many businesspeople are looking for an easy commute between New Zealand and the United States, without the annoying, time-sucking stopovers to refuel.
The fleet of Dassault aircraft in the past 16 months has jumped from one to four because there are more New Zealand businesses operating internationally and there are an increasing number of high networth individuals visiting New Zealand for business and leisure.
The 8X has three-engines which allows, the aircraft to fly more direct route on some Ocean routes than twin-engine jets that have to fly within range of diversion airports in the event of an engine failure.
These private jets allow their passengers to travel almost any flight path they want, and are so private Dassault says they cannot be tracked online on websites like Flight Radar, or by its competitors.
The aircraft’s customers are not only limited to those on the Forbes rich list, they also include businesses, politicians and governments who may use them for medical aid and emergencies, the company said.
Its ultra-long range means the 8x can fly 16 people from Hong Kong to London non-stop.
It can also fly as high as 51,000 feet (15,500 metres), compared to airliners that cruise between 30,000 to 40,000ft.
The cost of owning such a luxurious plane can mount up pretty quickly, taking into account fuel, maintenance, landing fees, crew wages, instruments, and various air traffic control fees.
Michel-Jacob said the aircraft was fuel efficient but would not disclose the average cost to fly the 8x per kilometre.
But filling the jets’ petrol tank would cost US$10,000.
According to private jet specialist Business Jet Traveler, the total cost of using the 8x would be US$2.4m a year, the crew cost is US$558,480 a year.
At a fixed annual salary of $80,000 over a career span of 45 years, the average person could maybe pay operational costs for a year, by the time they reach 65 years. Just the costs of running the jet, not actually owning the jet.
Michel-Jacob said the 8X had 1360 kilograms of additional fuel capacity to create the nearly 12,000 nautical mile (22,000 kilometre) range.
Dassault was not looking at developing an electric aircraft in the near future, Michel-Jacob said.
Dassault has used its military aviation background to add the Falcon Eye head-up display system which projects an image from highly sensitive camera onto a lense in front of the cockpit window. The technology was originally developed for fighter jets and makes landing in poor visibility and bad weather safer.
Michel-Jacob said 55 aircraft of the new model were being built.
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