Dubai's super-rich are reaching new heights after a hotelier unveiled a 'party jet' where bookings cost thousands of pounds.
Five Hotels & Resorts have reportedly already begun accepting passengers on their brand new 16-passenger private jet, which is illuminated by colour-changing LED lights to give a feeling of a nightclub in the clouds.
Flights can last up to 12 hours, and cost an eye-watering $13,000 (£10,000) to $14,000 (£11,000) per hour in the sky.
Promotional material shows the customised Airbus A220 named 9H-FIVE decked out with a dining table for eight, an entertainer’s kitchen and three 55-inch television sets.
Located at the very back of its main cabin meanwhile is the bedroom complete with a king-size bed, where a sign reminds revellers that only two people may share it at a time. A seat belt-type contraption named a gust belt must be used to secure you under the covers.
An ensuite toilet and shower is also included to give some home comforts, while plush seats and sofas along the passenger section of the plane can be converted to create a further seven bed spaces.
Relocation costs added on top of the hourly charges mean a trip from London to Dubai could reportedly cost about £4,000 a person if the plane was full - but there are already some stars who seem to think it's worth it.
According to owner Five Hotels chief executive Aloki Batra, an unnamed professional footballer used the plane in the last few weeks to fly to Madrid from the Middle East, while a further six bookings are said to have been accepted for the next six months.
He did tell The Guardian however that the company had turned down some "crazy requests", including one man who wanted to charter the flight simply to propose to his girlfriend for a not-modest sum of £55,000.
Announcing any new kind of air travel these days brings up obvious questions of climate impact, but Five Hotels claim they will be offsetting the service’s carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits.
Carbon credits are intended to reduce the impact of emissions-generating activities by investing in projects focussed on the climate, such as improving ecosystems and removing emissions from the atmosphere.
Boasting of the firm's distinct approach to hotels and now air travel, Mr Batra said: “FIVE has the experimental spirit of the modernist vanguard, thus Fly FIVE is an exciting evolution of FIVE’s award-winning disruptive hospitality ethos”
“With this customized, ultra-luxe, immersive private jet experience like no other, FIVE is once again delivering an elevated – and electric – customer experience for a worldwide diaspora.”
