While the most famous VIP aeroplane in the world would be the USA’s Air Force One, other countries also have their own VIP transports for government officials. Japan, China, Argentina, Brazil and Australia all have their own VIP jets, some are dedicated to the leader of the country and others are used as a mixed use VIP jet operated by the military.
Australia’s RAAF have operated an Australian VIP jet fleet for several years, know as the RAAF’s Special Purpose fleet, it is used by the Prime Minister, Governor General, Foreign Minister and the British Royal family (when in Australia). Originally a fleet of 4 707s were purchased used from Qantas between 1979 and 1983 that served as both VIP and military transport aircraft, a further 2 refurbished 707s were ordered from Boeing in 1987 and in 1990 some of the earlier fleet was converted to air to air tankers.
The 707 fleet used by the RAAF were phased out for VIP use in 2002 when they were well past their economical use date. The 707s were expensive to run compared to more modern planes in fuel and maintenance, as well as the fact that the 707 requires the use of 3 flight deck crew compared with 737s which require only 2 flight deck crew. Other problems included the fact the 707 doesn’t comply with existing noise regulations, this made visiting foreign countries hard as special permission needed to be granted for the 707 to land as some airports. One of the RAAF’s 707 tankers was lost with five crew off the coast of Victoria in 1991.
In 2002 the RAAF took delivery of two Boeing Business Jets for use as their VIP transport planes, based on the 737 these craft are fitted out with 36 seats that can be converted down to 30 when additional conference tables are added. Additional fuel tanks give the BBJ a lot longer range than the 737 its based on, as well as the addition of winglets to the main wings giving it a 5 to 7% increase in efficiency. The RAAF have also chosen the BBJ as the basis of their AEW&C radar project known as wedgetail. The BBJs are leased to the RAAF and maintained by Qantas while Virgin Blue provide some training facilities for the RAAF, both airlines operate 737s which are identical to the Business Jets.
The RAAF also replaced their Falcon 400s in 2002 when their lease expired with the similar size Bombardier CL604. Designed to seat around 9 people, the twin jet CL604 has a range of 6,236 km and uses a crew of two pilots and up to two crew attendants. The RAAF’s 3 CL604s like the BBJs are maintained and leased to the RAAF by Qantas.
