What a rare find this morning! Las Vegas Sands' VQ-BMS (c/n 21649), a 747SP-SP21 was parked at the North hardstands.
Originally delivered to Pan Am in 1979 as N540PA, this aircraft has since been in possession of five other outfits. Pan Am sold it to United Airlines back in 1986 and had its registration changed to N149UA. United then leased it to Tajik Air in 1993. It was then repossessed in 1994 and bought by the Brunei government. During that time the registration was changed three times (V8-JBB,V8-JP1,V8-AC1). In 1998, it was sold to Bahrain. The reg changed twice (A9C-HHH, A9C-HMH). In 2008, it was bought by the Las Vegas Sands.
4 comments:
saw it a week ago in vegas, first time I've ever seen a 747SP up close, in the pictures they look small, but then you realize they are still 747's just kinda stubby.
So I got to ask (because I don't know). What does a hotel do with a 747, or better yet why does a hotel need a 747? It certainly can't be cheap to fly and upkeep that thing. Plus it might be old enough to still use a 3 person flight crew?
When you have a high end property, you have a department that looks for high rollers to bring into LAS and other properties in the Sands Corp. This plane constantly flies between the middle east and LAS, and parts of asia and LAS. When you bankroll an individual with 3 million dollars, chances are the cost involved to go get him are minor. Plus, you want to make sure the individual is in your control during his whole visit. Thus, he spends all his money on your property.
Sands has 2 747's 2 L-1011's a 767-300, and a few 737NG's along with some Gulfstreams.
Love the fact it's an ex-Pan Am 747! Not many of those left. SP or otherwise. An HNL RareBird indeed!
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