Mexico To Unload Presidential Jet, Sells $80 Million Of Raffle Tickets To Super Rich

Everyone thought Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) was absolutely nuts when he wanted to unload the luxurious presidential plane.

However, there were no buyers earlier this year, so he floated the idea of raffling the jet off with 6 million lottery tickets, for about $27 each, which would raise about $130 million. Though that idea never came into fruition, instead this week, AMLO sold 75 raffle tickets to the super-rich of Mexico, raising about $80 million, reported Bloomberg.

The jackpot is for the country’s version of Air Force One, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner ordered in 2012. Mexico agreed to pay Boeing $219 million for the plane new, has already lost a $139 million.

AMLO said the money raised would be used to fund new medical equipment in the country.

“Yesterday, in the gathering we had with business leaders of Mexico, everyone expressed their support,” AMLO said at a press conference Thursday. “Some will distribute the tickets to other companies. They’ll be in charge of distribution. Others will sell them, and others will hand them out to their employees.”

AMLO has said the prior administration was foolish to spend an excessive amount of money on the Dreamliner, adding that it doesn’t make sense to have a state-of-the-art plane when millions of people in the country can barely make ends meet.

There was no word on when the raffle will be drawn. But it seems that some super-rich businessperson will be the owner of a Dreamliner in the near term.