> Still leaves the mystery as to the aircraft—I know the -500 was the ULH queen
> till the B77L came in and did it cheaper, despite its ETOPS restrictions. No
> registration or database I have access to shows a current Saudi flagged A340,
> let alone a -500. Would be hell of a biz-jet though. Connect any two points
> on the globe with no restrictions on traversing desolate routes.
Yeah, found another bit of info on the 500 series. About a third were
built as VIP/Special Use transport. But almost half the 500/600 fleet
is parked because of the hourly maintenance/support contracts with RR
for the Trent engines being so high as to offset any fuel efficiency
gains over the the CFM56 versions.
If I were to venture a guess, I'd say the the plane you spotted was a
500 series VIP that just got leased to Saudia.
AG
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