As if the guaranteed money reportedly given to golfers who leapt to play on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour wasn't enough, their mode of travel isn't exactly economy class either.
Thanks to a posting by @MichaelFarley1976 on TikTok, we got a look at the accommodations. In the video, golfer Pat Perez struts to "We Are the Champions," and we get a quick look at Dustin Johnson.
Private jet for LIV golfers and caddies pic.twitter.com/F1Ry3UbluK
(From MichaelFarley1976 on TikTok)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 8, 2022
Luckily, we can tell you more about the plane because there is only one plane in the world that looks exactly like this: the former Crystal Skye 777-200 LR. The plane originally cost $320 million, and that's just for the bones of the aircraft.
A Boeing 777 can usually fit up to 396 passengers, but this one has only 88 passengers and jump seats for 19 crew members. The height from floor to ceiling is seven feet.
There is no shortage of bells and whistles aboard as there are also game tables and a bar in the front of the plane. All seats are leather and fully recline. The Italian-made pillows cost $500 apiece and pair with cashmere blankets. Each seat has a 24-inch Panasonic HDTV. The plane's floor has a four-inch thick carpet on a custom made single piece.
At its height, it had its own Michelin star chef and sky butlers steaming clothes and polishing shoes.
So what do we know about LIV Golf and this plane?
Well, the plane is still registered to Comlux, which operated the plane when it was owned by Genting Hong Kong. That company, the parent company of Crystal Cruises, lost $2.7 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic and went into voluntary liquidation. Last month, it sold its two major cruise boats for $128 million combined.
For four years, the company used it as part of travel packages but also chartered it around the world at a rate of $55,000 an hour. The Action Network searched flights made by this plane and could only definitively find one — a July 1 flight from Miami to Portland — that was used to fly to a LIV destination. Last week's event was played at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland.
