One of the world's richest men is buying the world's largest airliner as a sort of private yacht.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is buying a new, huge Airbus A-380, which has about 500 square meters of floor space on two decks and can cram up to 800 people into economy seats.
The prince is listed by Forbes magazine as the 13th richest person in the world, and already owns one of the few Boeing 747's in private hands.
His new toy has a list price of about $320 million, not counting the tens - or hundreds - of millions of dollars needed to furnish it in palatial style. It is expected to have bedrooms and perhaps a bar and a gym.
Prince Alwaleed is the first private buyer of the super-sized luxury plane, but Airbus officials say there may be 10 or 20 other people with the means and the desire to raise conspicuous consumption to such heights.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Bloomberg.
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