“Not everything can fly,” said Lufthansa Technik’s Walter Heerdt in 2012. “We will not install a swimming pool or a fireplace. That is not possible.”
Back in 2007, however, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud signed an order for an Airbus A380 double-decker and hired designer Edese Doret to equip it with not only a swimming pool but also with a two-car garage for his Rolls-Royces, a stable for horses and camels, a pen for hawks and a prayer room that would rotate so it always faced Mecca. The total cost was said to be around $500 million.
Airbus did nix the pool and none of the prince’s other plans took form, as he wound up selling the jet before its interior was installed. Airbus recently delisted the order for the first and so far only private A380, a former flight-test aircraft. Clearly, though, he was not thinking small. And he wasn’t the first or last jet buyer to decide that the sky’s no limit.
As we reported last year in Business Jet Traveler's annual Buyers’ Guide, recent bizjet cabin projects have included a casino, complete with wet bar and gaming tables, and—Heerdt’s comments notwithstanding—a fireplace in a Boeing 787. OK, it’s a “simulated” fireplace, but it still means the owner can hang his stocking and wait for Santa at 41,000 feet. Then, of course, there are the bizliners that serve as transportation for heads of state, which have such features as two-story ballrooms, elevators, bulletproof glass and surgical suites. (See the April/May 2015 BJT for a report on the 747s that will serve as the next fleet of Air Force One aircraft for U.S. presidents, plus a look at the latest in bizjet furnishings.)
What’s the most amazing cabin customization job you’ve seen on a corporate or private aircraft? Write and let me know. I’ll personally pay a thousand bucks to the first reader who points me to a cabin that features a 40-lane bowling alley or an 18-hole golf course.
On second thought, scratch that last sentence, as the joke could be on me. Given some of what’s flying these days, it’d be risky to call anything impossible.
Jeff Burger joined Business Jet Traveler in March 2004, a few months after the publication’s launch. Besides editing the magazine, he has written many articles for it and conducted its interviews with such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Suze Orman, Donald Trump, F. Lee Bailey, and Steve Van Zandt. Burger helped to oversee the introduction of BJT’s annual Readers' Choice surveys and Buyers’ Guide.
During his years with the magazine, it has won well over a hundred editorial awards. In 2011, Burger received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association and the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. He has also won writing and editing awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. BJT, meanwhile, was named Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Before coming to BJT, Burger spent 14 years at Medical Economics, the nation’s leading business magazine for doctors, where he served on the editorial board; directed staff recruiting; oversaw a $2 million annual budget; and was financial editor, news editor, and director of special projects. He has been editor of several publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and has been a consulting editor at Time Inc. His articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly , and Family Circle. Chicago Review Press published his books, Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounter, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. His music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com.
Burger, a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, lives in Ridgewood, N.J. He and his wife, Madeleine, have two grown children. His off-hours passions include cooking, travel, technology, movies, and music.
