![Crystal Cruises' new Boeing 777.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170815105846im_/http://www.executivestyle.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/w/7/w/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxw732.png/1502781731589.jpg)
On commercial airlines today, travelling economy is a pain, while the wealthy are well looked after in first class. But for the ultrawealthy, there's a whole other level available.
For China's "Golden Week" holiday at the beginning of October, a group of rich travellers will take off from Hong Kong on a lavishly appointed Boeing 777 for a nine-day tour with stops at luxury hotels in Nairobi, Kenya and Tahiti. The cost is approximately $57,400 per person.
On Tuesday, that 777 was handed over to Crystal Air Cruises in a ceremony at Boeing Field.
![The Social Lounge on Crystal Cruises’ new Boeing 777 includes a full-service bar. Luxury travel firm Crystal Cruises ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170815105846im_/http://www.executivestyle.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/w/7/w/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.520x294.gxw732.png/1502781731589.jpg)
Limited numbers only
It features a large cocktail-bar area, with seating for 24 guests to mix socially. To pass the time on a long flight, the tabletops in the bar can be inverted to offer video games or gaming.
A typical 777-200LR airliner like this one normally carries slightly more than 300 passengers, but aft of the bar on this jet is a passenger cabin with just 88 first-class, lie-flat seats.
After it was built in Boeing's Everett factory, the plane spent two years at Moses Lake, where the customised interior – mostly white, with stone veneer and marble accents – designed by Greenpoint Technologies of Kirkland was installed under contract by a team from Aviation Technical Services, the Everett-based airplane maintenance company.
Chief Executive of Crystal Cruises Edie Rodriguez touted the jet as "the most luxuriously appointed aircraft in the private aircraft industry."
A cruise ship in the air
Guests are cosseted by a crew of 20, including a chef, a sommelier, a mixologist and a dozen mostly young women whom Rodriguez insisted on calling butlers – "not flight attendants."
Rodriguez took every opportunity to promote the Crystal name and its connotation of wealth and luxury.
Explaining the business model behind the purchase of the luxury jet, Rodriguez said that initially Crystal intended to treat it like a cruise ship in the air, planning high-end itineraries and selling seats individually.
Is it a yacht? Is it a plane?
But the company discovered that though their target market, "the top two per cent of the world's wealthiest," could afford such air cruises, they are too time-strapped to slot easily into a preset schedule. So Crystal switched gears to offer the jet instead as a private charter.
Rodriguez said one couple have just chartered the 777 for their anniversary, along with "one of our floating assets."
![Each seat on Crystal Cruises’ new VIP jetliner, a Boeing 777-200LR, includes a fold-out bed and a 24-inch TV. The ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170815105846im_/http://www.executivestyle.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/w/7/w/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.520x294.gxw732.png/1502781731589.jpg)
A yacht? A river-cruise boat? She declined to elaborate further, saying her clients insist upon privacy. She disclosed only that the couple's plan is "to take their guests on a custom-curated experience around the world."
City to city
It's also possible to just charter the plane on a private flight from city to city. Rodriguez said such a one-way flight from New York to Paris would cost $477,700 or just about $5470 per person with all 88 seats filled.
"The world is getting wealthier by the minute," Rodriguez said, citing data that China has "more than a million millionaires and more than 400 billionaires."
![The wine cellar.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170815105846im_/http://www.executivestyle.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/w/7/w/u/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gxw732.png/1502781731589.jpg)
And, boosting the private charter model, "a lot of the wealthy like to travel with, in quotes, people like them," she said.
Place your bets
Crystal Air bought a 787 Dreamliner as well as the 777. But it decided that the smaller plane doesn't suit its needs and is trying to sell it.
So what's the likelihood of further Boeing orders later, perhaps a second 777?
Rodriguez said demand is already strong for Crystal Air. "I'm a bullish, betting woman," said Rodriguez. "I'd say, most likely yes."
The best of the best
The plane will be operated for Crystal by Comlux, a private air-charter company with operating certificates from Malta, Aruba and Kazakhstan.
The 777 will be based in Victorville, Calif., when in North America; in Malta when it's in Europe; and in various bases in Asia.
The crew has been gathered mostly from the world's high-end airlines. One Austrian pilot previously flew 777s for Emirates of Dubai. The South African executive chef was poached from Etihad of Abu Dhabi.
The Seattle Times