Heavy Load

Apparently King Salman of Saudi Arabia is not one to travel lightly.

Many Boot Licking Lackeys Required ...

He also doesn't seem to believe that the cost cutting measures in his country should apply to him. He is now on a regional tour of South East Asia, partly to explain why the Saudis have increased the cost of a pilgrim visas to Mecca and partly to invest in other countries labour, as they can't rely on Saudi's to take up the slack when the oil runs out.

Up Up And Away

I wasn't aware that Britain is getting a Prime Ministerial aircraft .... indeed so late did I find this out that it may be being used now ... 'Mayforce 1' so to speak. Actually its kinda surprising that we haven't got one already .... the UK is the only G20 nation not to have a dedicated aircraft for transporting either heads of state or government (even Belgium has one).

No One Ever Accuses Britain Of Class Any More
 .... Cheap Yes, Class No.

Now being Britain, and always being hard up for readies we have chosen the cheap option of winging our leaders, and are upgrading one or two old RAF cast-offs. Voyager A330 air-to-air refuelling aircraft for those of you who like to know these things ... and at a modest £10m per plane apparently makes it around the cheapest head of state aircraft around. Apparently it will cost £2,000 per flying hour (compared with an average £6,700 to use either Royal Squadron planes or a long-haul charter).