The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, flew to the United States to visit Donald Trump at the White House last week aboard a “luxury” Gulfstream 700, hired from a private jet subsidiary of Qatar Airways, according to new documents filed with the Department of Transportation.
The private jet features an ‘exceptionally spacious’ cabin with four separate living areas, including a dedicated private state room that features a permanent bed, for what was a short three-and-a-half-hour flight from San Salvador to Camp Springs.
The Gulfstream 700 is described as the “pinnacle of business aviation excellence.” When Qatar Executive took delivery of its G700 early last year, it was the only international operator of the aircraft type.
Before Qatar Executive took delivery of its G700 jets, it had fully bespoke cabins fitted throughout, designed to meet the needs and standards of the airline’s “most discerning customers.”
According to US-based lawyers for Qatar Executive, although the 13-passenger plane was hired through a charter broker in Florida, the ultimate charterer of the almost brand new long-range private jet was the government of El Salvador.
Bukele and his entourage flew from San Salvador on the afternoon of April 12, based on publicly available flight tracking data, and arrived at Camp Springs, Maryland, around 6:30 p.m.
The luxury jet then remained on the ground at Camp Springs as Bukele met with President Trump in the Oval Office on April 14. During the meeting Bukele won significant praise from Trump as she said he had no plans to return a man who had been mistakenly deported from the United States.
Following the meeting, Bukele was to be flown from Camp Springs to New York JFK for meetings at the United Nations, although the flight required special dispensation from the Department of Transportation to allow a Secret Service agent to travel on the private jet with Bukele’s entourage.
In its written application, Qatar Executive’s lawyers said it would have caused Bukele and his team “unnecessary hardship” if the DOT had required them to travel on a US airline.
Regulations designed to stop cabotage (in which a foriegn airline operates a domestic flight in another country), Qatar Executive had to quickly get oral permission from the DOT to allow the Secret Service agent to fly on the Camp Springs to New York JFK flight.
“If the oral application had not been granted, a foreign head of state’s meeting with the President would have been interrupted; and the foreign head of state’s attendance at important meetings, crucial to U.S. and global diplomatic interests, would have been disrupted,” a written application submiited after the fact explained.
“Moreover, there is no indication that U.S. air carriers suffered harm as a result of the carriage of the Secret Service agent, who needed to travel on the same aircraft with the individual he was assigned to protect.”
After several days on the ground at New York JFK, the private jet used to fly Bukele departed the United States for the Spanish capital, Madrid. The G700 can fly up to 7,750 nautical miles at a speed of Mach 0.935.
According to Gulfstream, the plane features 20 panoramic oval windows – the largest in business aviation – offering “sweeping views and abundant natural light.”
