These days, Qatar Airways has operated its flights between Barcelona and Doha with practically total occupations. Most passengers use the two daily trips between the Catalan capital and Qatar to connect with a good number of destinations in Africa and Asia. A small part of the passage remains in that country, although the vast majority use the international airport of Hamad as a hub. From there flights are taken to or from countries such as Bangladesh, Australia, China, India or Seychelles. Regular services to El Prat are operated with the company’s most modern aircraft: the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. These days coincided on the runways of the Barcelona airport with another plane with the company’s colors, although in reality this device had nothing to do with the usual commercial operation: it was a Boeing 747 in VIP version.
The 747 series 8 with registration A7-HFF, with an unmistakable line due to its double bridge and four engines, arrived in Barcelona earlier this week and was parked in parking lot 141 on ramp 3, next to the cargo terminal. This is a space prepared for the large jumbo jets in an area where the large planes of logistics companies also park.
Due to its colors, the device could seem like one of the 237 in the fleet of the national company of the small Persian state, although the reality is that the airline does not have the 747 in its conventional fleet as a larger capacity aircraft, but the Airbus A380 . This 747, along with two more, are part of the Qatar Amiri Flight fleet, an exclusive VIP airline owned by the state of Qatar that is in charge of carrying out the trips of the Qatari royal family and transporting other high-ranking dignitaries of its government.
The Amiri Flight of this small state of 2.6 million inhabitants and 11,000 square kilometers currently has 14 aircraft from the manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, all with a luxurious interior configuration, among which the 747 that is in Barcelona these days stands out. This particular device was originally purchased by the Amiri Flight from an emirate very close to Qatar: Abu Dhabi, although Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, the previous head of government, finally dispensed with the device before launching it. Boeing’s business jet division had to keep the device and was looking for a new buyer for an aircraft that, depending on its interior configuration and the extras that are added, both in communications and security, can reach cost 480 million dollars, about 435 million euros.
Finally, in the spring of 2017, the state of Qatar took over the plane, which became the third in the VIP fleet of this model, although the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, was using another 747-8 version at that time. also VIP, although not directly attached to the state airline. Registered in Bermuda, the VQ-BSQ was the aircraft in which the emir has flown with priority since 2013, after the abdication of his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
With the arrival of the jumbo jet that is in El Prat these days, the royal family had up to four Boeing 747s at their disposal for their personal trips. A number that was perhaps considered excessive by themselves, since Al Thani’s preferred aircraft ended up on the global aircraft buying and selling market, although it was very difficult to find a client with enough economic muscle and interest to get a aircraft decorated in a marked Arabic style.
Finally, and to demonstrate the good harmony of the State of Qatar with the Republic of Turkey, the emir decided to give the plane to Recep Tayyip Erdo?an in autumn 2018. The Turkish president accepted the generous gift and since then he is one of the few world leaders who He travels with the same plane as the President of the United States of America and also in an even more modern and luxurious version.
About the A7-HFF, which was preparing to fly this afternoon, since different ground assistance teams were moving around it, including a catering truck, little is known, both about its occupants, since it is considered a state plane, such as the place where you come from or where you will go on your next trip, information that is carried discreetly on all your visits to the city. Nor can it be tracked in the usual applications that X-ray the skies around the world.
