Two new luxury Boeing B737 Max 8 planes will be bought with unused funds from the Australian government’s 2023-24 defence budget.
The two taxpayer-funded jets will be used to transport Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other key government figures,
Buying the jets was deemed to be cheaper than renting, with one estimate calculating the government to save $100 million over 12 years.
The two jets travelled from Canberra to the Scone Memorial Airport in the Hunter Valley for the solar energy press conference.
“The Air Force advised that the most efficient way of getting the prime minister and two Cabinet ministers to the Liddell Power Station was to go to Scone Airport, where the runway was not rated for the prime minister’s normally large jet,” Mr. Bowen said at a press conference in Fairfield NSW on April 1.
“As you know, the prime minister always travels with the Royal Australian Air Force—all prime ministers have for living memory as long as certainly I’ve been involved. That’s for security reasons and quite appropriate.”
At the announcement, the federal government advised they would be delivering $1 billion (US$649,000) of taxpayer funds to support solar manufacturing.
Meanwhile, according to Boeing, the 737-8 Max features enough space for 210 passengers.
The company says the planes are designed to decrease emissions by 20 percent through the use of “advanced technology winglets and efficient engines.”
The Boeing planes have not been without their own controversy, however.
In 2018 and 2019, two Boeing 737 Max planes crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing a total of 346 people.
The crashes were blamed, in part, on a new, automated flight system which pushed the planes’ noses down shortly after take-off.
The Justice Department will decide by July 7 whether it will prosecute Boeing.
