The A380 for VVIPs

'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree ...'
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1816.)

The realm of the celebrated 13th-century emperor and general (grandson of Genghis) reached from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean (one fifth of the world's inhabited land area at the time), so a stately 'flying-palace' would have been ideal for Kubla Khan's Asian territories!

Throughout history, top-net-worth individuals have had to handle the stress and pressures of long-distance travel.

Save a little sympathy for the billionaires out there!

Their calendars are packed with international events. They attend summits on government fiscal policy and meet politicians to discuss emergency funding for drought-ridden nations. Or, as was reported about billionaire investor Warren Buffett, they perform financial feats like bailing out Lloyd's of London.

Transporting your entourage from country X to country Y in time for the next urgent gathering of the great and the good can be a complex undertaking. When they fly commercial, billionaires and their fellow travellers must struggle through seething crowds at airport terminals and wait in long lines for airline check-in and security processing. They sit scrunched like human pretzels in too-small seats where flight attendants sometimes cannot even provide a drink of water.

Or they do something about it.

Majestic Palace in the Sky

Eager to make their trips as hassle-free as possible, many of these individuals have taken to flying on private jets. Typically these small airplanes carry between 6 and 20 people, and check-in is handled at the general-aviation section of an airport. Passenger boarding and disembarkation take place on specially reserved areas of the tarmac, and helicopter connections can usually be provided if required.

Recently, however, a new trend has emerged at the very top of the market: the conversion for private ownership of much larger—and more expensive—jets that are normally associated with commercial airlines. These are planes such as the Airbus A319 and A320; the Boeing B737 and B757; and even the twin-aisle wide-bodies, the B747, B767 and B777.

Then there is the Airbus A380.

What might the double-deck luxury interior look like? Lufthansa Technik, a provider of technical support and maintenance for over 300 of the world's airlines and operators, has designed an Airbus A380 for potential private clients that includes rooms with king-sized beds, deep pile carpeting and en-suite bathrooms; an office with Web and e-mail access; a dining room that can be used for entertaining guests or conducting business meetings; and a theater.