Mexico president eyes giving presidential jet to planned military

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday proposed handing over the opulent presidential plane, which he inherited from his predecessors and failed to sell as promised, to a planned military-run airline, where it could be rented to workers.
Lopez Obrador, who has an austere approach to spending, has cast the luxury Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a symbol of the excesses of previous governments and since campaigning for office had vowed to sell it. But finding a buyer willing to pay its $130 million price tag has proved challenging.
“The plane will be handed over to Mexicana de Aviacion for special trips,” he told a news conference in the southern Yucatan peninsula, saying it would be available to rent for workers of the new airline for trips around Mexico and even to other continents.
Lopez Obrador is planning to create a new airline under the auspices of Olmeca-Maya-Mexica, a military-run business set to run a handful of airports and the multibillion-dollar “Mayan Train” project being built in Yucatan.