The plane that Senator J.D. Vance, nominated as former President Donald J. Trump’s vice presidential candidate within the 2024 presidential election, will use is a 2002 Boeing 737-800. Vance is the junior senator from Ohio. And in a twist, the operator of his plane has ties to Ross Perot, the unconventional third-party candidate who received nearly 20% of the vote within the 1992 presidential election.
Accordingly FlightAwareThe aircraft, registration N917XA, is owned by Eastern 737 Asset Holdings, LLC. Flightradar lists it as operated by Eastern Air Express.
Former US President Donald Trump and Republican candidate for the US Senate, JD Vance, welcome … [+]
In January, Eastern Air Holdings, Inc. announced that it had acquired Hillwood Airways and its Boeing 737 passenger and cargo fleet. According to its website, Eastern operated wide-body Boeing 767 and 777 aircraft. A month later, it announced that it could move its headquarters to Kansas City.
At the time, the corporate stated: “Eastern Airlines is a certified 121 carrier authorized to operate scheduled domestic and international service. However, the company’s primary focus is on inter-company charter service and, in particular, work for the U.S. government, particularly repositioning troops for the Department of Defense domestically and internationally as a member of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), as well as for other government agencies.”
It also states: “Eastern has 10 to 15 aircraft parked in its hangar facilities at Kansas City International Airport at any given time and is actively working to expand its fleet with the goal of increasing its presence in Kansas City over time.”
The aircraft in query was first identified by Jack Sweeney, a outstanding private jet tracker, who matched promotional photos of the plane to a hangar at Kansas City International Airport.
While some reports put the worth of the Vance jet at 100 million US dollarsExperts assume that the acquisition costs can be significantly lower.
An industry executive acquainted with the VIP aircraft segment says the narrow-body aircraft, which is greater than 20 years old, might be price between $15 million and $20 million.
“The value lies almost exclusively in the engines. The airframe has very little value,” he says.
Airfleets.net shows that the aircraft was delivered to the now defunct Air Berlin in 2002.
It lists no less than seven operators, including Orenair, a Russian airline that ceased operations in 2016. Smartwings, an airline based within the Czech Republic, had leased the jet from Swift Air no less than 3 times. Its network stretches from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates.
Vance’s plane was last flew for iAero Airways before it ceased operations earlier this yr.
The source says the everyday charter rate for the plane that would fly the following vp is $30,000 an hour. He said there are minimum guarantees every day, normally three to 4 hours, so it’s reasonable to assume the Trump/Vance campaign is paying about $100,000 a day.
The prices for flights include catering, with the client specifying a budget. Additional costs arise from modifications and the affixing of stickers to the aircraft.
The configuration of the jets used for these campaigns can vary greatly. A pure VIP configuration would mean 50 to 60 seats in a 2 x 2 configuration. While these seats typically have more legroom and leg rests, they’re more similar to straightforward first-class seats on domestic flights than the fully flat beds present in business and first-class on international flights.
Sometimes the planes are equipped with VIP seating within the front and standard 3×3 travel seats within the back. This particular plane had a pure economy configuration with 189 seats just a few years ago.
But typical campaign flights are likely to be short-haul, so the planes are designed to have enough space for employees, security personnel and sometimes the press. The source said it’s common to have maintenance technicians on board to troubleshoot problems in real time.
“The schedules are tight. They can change at short notice and there is a lot of logistical work behind the scenes,” the source said.
Additional costs can be incurred by placing stickers with the candidates’ names and other signage on the planes. The source estimates these costs at about $15,000.
Interestingly, Hillwood Airways was a part of Ross Perot Jr.’s business empire. His father, Ross Perot Sr., ran as a third-party candidate within the 1992 presidential election and received 18.9% of the favored vote, but no electoral votes. Democratic Party candidate Bill Clinton defeated incumbent George HW Bush to win that election.
