Clive Palmer splashes $50m on new private business jet

Billionaire Clive Palmer is about to add a third private jet to his fleet after splashing out $50m on a Bombardier Global 6000.

A Bombardier Global 6000 similar to that bought by billionaire Clive Palmer for $50m. Picture: VistaJet

Billionaire Clive Palmer is about to add a third private jet to his fleet after splashing out $50m on a four-year-old Bombardier Global 6000.

For the past few weeks, chief pilot David Evans and his co-captain have been in London making final arrangements for the jet’s journey to its new home in Brisbane.

It’s understood the pilots were required to complete a differences course at CAE Burgess Hill to fly the jet which has more advanced avionics than Mr Palmer’s existing Bombardier Global Express, made in 2008.

The new aircraft will fly into Brisbane early next week after making the journey from London in at least two stages.

With a range of almost 11,000km the Global 6000 is one of the most popular models of private jet with Anthony Pratt, Lindsay Fox and Tim Roberts among past and present owners.

Designed to comfortably carry up to 17 passengers, as many as 126 people could squeeze into the cavernous cabin while the baggage compartment can fit 59 standard suitcases.

Along with Mr Palmer’s older Bombardier Global Express, the businessman and one term member of parliament has a Cessna Citation X jet, and at least one helicopter.

Clive Palmer’s 2008 Bombardier Global Express at Karratha Airport in 2012. Picture: Bruce Long

Another two McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jets, which sat in the open at Brisbane Airport for over ten-years, were recently leased to Queensland Government-owned training company Aviation Australia, for $1 a year.

Despite being unairworthy, the decaying jets were welcomed by the company as a valuable training tool for budding aircraft engineers.

With Brisbane hangar space in limited supply, it was expected Mr Palmer would sell his Global Express jet, which was considered to be worth around $25m.

Mr Palmer’s own net worth was estimated to be about $8bn making him one of Australia’s wealthiest people, and well placed to afford the $1.11m annual cost of operating a Global 6000.

Throughout the pandemic, the market for new and used business jets has been a remarkable growth story, with many of Australia’s rich listers either upgrading their wings, or joining the jet set.

There were now believed to be close to 200 Bombardier business jets in the country, including several $100m Global 7500s.

A source involved in the jet industry said the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s aircraft register did not tell the full story, with many buyers preferring not to not register their jets in Australia.

That was due to the fact CASA-registration came with a requirement for an Australian-licensed maintenance engineer to sign off on any work on the aircraft, anywhere in the world.

“That can be tricky if you have an issue somewhere in Europe, so a lot of owners register them in the place of purchase,” he said.

Several of Mr Palmer’s aircraft carried Cayman Islands registration but there was no point searching for them on flight-tracking websites like Flightradar24 and Flightaware.

Mr Palmer had opted to block this tracking function for privacy reasons.