Chapter 141: Private Plane to the Capital
Baiyun Airport of Yangcheng.
Inside the VIP lounge.
"Gentlemen, your private jet is ready for takeoff, and the crew has been arranged. There are four members from Air China serving you, including two pilots and two first-class cabin attendants."
"The maximum delay for this flight is 40 minutes. Would you like to board now or make some adjustments before boarding?"
Gu Heng, Lu Yuan, Fu Songyang, and Liu Wan were chatting in the four-person reception room of the airport's VIP lounge when a knock on the door interrupted them, followed by an airport ground staff member entering with gentle steps.
Gu Heng couldn't help but look up when he heard the ground staff lady's voice, realizing it was the same lady who had escorted him out of the airport last time, he couldn't help but smile and said, "We meet again."
The ground staff lady quickly turned her gaze towards Gu Heng, and then her smile brightened even more, "Good afternoon, Mr. Gu, it's an honor to serve you once again."
"You remember me?"
Gu Heng was somewhat surprised.
The airport ground staff meet tens of thousands of people every day?
Although it had only been a few days since he had flown back to Yangcheng from Hong Kong Island, a normal person's memory would have probably forgotten by now, but this ground staff lady not only remembered him, she could even accurately recall his last name.
The ground staff lady responded with a smile, "Of course. I have a very strong impression of each client who takes a private jet. Especially that day, I gave Mr. Gu a less-than-satisfactory experience, for which I would like to offer my sincerest apologies once again."
Fu Songyang couldn't help looking at Gu Heng and saying, "Are you kidding me? Didn't you say it was your first time on a private jet?"
Gu Heng spread his hands, "It really was my first time."
"Then how do you explain what this ground staff lady said?"
"Had you not mentioned it, I would have been fine, but now it just boils my blood. What I took wasn't a private jet, it was a private helicopter... I don't want to talk about that experience too much, it was simply indescribable..."
Liu Wan chimed in immediately, "Was it so noisy it made your head spin?"
"Exactly! Too noisy! Brother Liu, have you ridden in one too?"
Liu Wan nodded, "I frequently travel to Southeast Asia for business. I bought a helicopter there in Malaysia because the country is small, and planes aren't convenient, but cars are too slow. If there's an urgent meeting, I have to take a helicopter.
But just as I said earlier, it's way too noisy. After each flight, it takes a long while to recover."
Gu Heng nodded in strong agreement, "Absolutely. I was considering buying a helicopter, but since then, I've given up the idea. Spending money is one thing, but to pay for your own trouble? That would be insane."
Lu Yuan, "Then you should do like Song Yang and buy a private jet. With those, you won't suffer."
Fu Songyang rolled his eyes, "You should trust me on this, unless there's a special need, really don't buy one.
This mid-size business jet was bought by my late dad over a decade ago. At the time, it cost just under a billion, but maintenance, upkeep, and all sorts of other costs can run up to over ten million a year.
Over a decade, that's enough to buy a second private jet.
You see people like Ma Yun, Wang Jianlin who spend most of their year in the air, it makes sense for them to have a private jet, but I don't know what my dad was thinking when he bought this one.
I'd like to sell it now, but no one wants to take it off my hands. Think about it, with over a billion, you could do so many things! Instead, it bought this damned thing. Sometimes, when I offer incense for my late dad, I feel like cursing him."
"The maintenance costs are that high?"
Gu Heng had only a vague understanding of private jets...
He knew they were a staple for the top-rich, both domestically and internationally, where the average top tycoon owns one or even several private jets.
But he hadn't realized the costs were so high, up to over ten million a year...
Indeed, poverty had limited his imagination...
Fu Songyang shrugged, "What did you think? For someone who flies as infrequently as I do, it's about ten million a year. If you fly more, with all the route fees and other costs, it could even double.
And mine is just a mid-size business jet. If you switch to something like the Gulfstream 650, it starts at 30 million a year. Note my words, that's just the starting! Only big shots like Liu Dongqiang can afford those. I definitely can't afford it."
The ground staff lady listened to their conversation with her eyelids twitching...
The airport is one of the places that most vividly showcases the gap between the rich and the poor...
Here, there are tycoons flying in jets worth hundreds of millions and ordinary people buying discounted tickets...
Even after so many years of working here, she still finds the conversations of these folks astonishing...
"Let's talk more on the plane; we'll be there for over three hours anyway."
Saying that, Fu Songyang stood up.
The ground staff lady quickly stood in front to lead the way for them...
.....
This time, when passing through the special channel, it went without the issues of the last time, and everyone slowly boarded the airport shuttle...
Four people...
One shuttle each...
About two minutes later, Gu Heng finally saw the true face of Fu Songyang's private jet...
Although Fu Songyang had been complaining about it being just a mid-size plane, that was all relative...
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With a fuselage and wingspan nearly 20 meters long, this giant craft appearing before Gu Heng still gave him a bit of a thrill...
Although he had been on a plane once before, the feeling was quite different this time...