In 2012, officials from various agencies, civil and military, evaluated the option to purchase a new presidential plane, whose cost would be 750 million dollars, which would replace the aircraft used by the federal Executive at that time, and at the meeting the transaction was approved.
THE UNIVERSAL realized on July 30 of that year that the government of Felipe Calderón approved the purchase of a new plane for the international tours of the President of the Republic, an aircraft that would cost almost 10 billion pesos.
This Tuesday, in his morning conference, the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador He said that when the plane was bought, no newspaper said anything.
“It’s like the plane, buy the plane, use the plane and no newspaper says anything, go to the newspaper archives and if they find something about it they bring it to me, to see if THE UNIVERSAL published something when they compared the plane, a photo” , said the president.
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Contrary to what the chief executive said, this publishing house published on the front page, as a main note, on July 30, 2012, that the government would buy a Boeing 789-9, which would replace the two planes used by the President during Your tours
The purchase decision was made after a “wide reflection” about the technology and age of the airplanes that at that time were transporting the federal Executive.
THE UNIVERSAL stressed that the plane would be used for tours abroad and that it would be delivered three years later, that is, in 2015, during the government of Enrique Peña Nieto.
According to the published note, sources consulted by this newspaper indicated that it was a state decision, because the aircraft would not be used by Calderón, but by his successor.
The planned device, mentioned the note of this newspaper, was a new model of the Boeing 787, of which there was only one prototype until that moment, so it will be a unique aircraft in the world and the Mexican government will become its first user, According to the sources.
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The investment would include modifications to the plane and the installation of a security system.
For the transaction, the financial lease was considered, which would be covered by the state bank Banobras.
The aircraft would be delivered in 2015, in the middle of the presidential administration of Peña Nieto.
Thus, since December 2015, EL UNIVERSAL promptly followed up the then-called new presidential plane, a Boeing 787-8, and reported that the aircraft was conducting flight tests at Dallas Lovefield airport, in Dallas, Texas, prior to being delivered to the Presidency of the Republic.
THE UNIVERSAL published that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which would bear the name of Jose maria morelos and pavon, would be delivered to the Presidential General Staff after completing the tests to which he was subjected at the Dallas Love Field airport.
On January 15, 2016, the Presidency of the Republic, already with Peña Nieto as Chief Executive, informed that the delivery of the aircraft, acquired by the Calderón administration, was conditioned to the last tests and the certification of the interior equipment by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA).
Peña Nieto premiered the new presidential plane on February 10, 2016 and EL UNIVERSAL also reported on it. That day, the then president said that the Jose maria morelos and pavon It was not the property of the President of the Republic, but of the Mexican State.
He also answered the question about whether the presidential plane was a “palace” full of luxuries: “That is part of the distorted information“ that has been disseminated around the new TP01 ”.
He stressed that the plane was bought in a process of “natural renewal” of the air fleet since the planes and helicopters have a useful life.
According to the technical report, the presidential aircraft can carry up to 80 passengers, has equipment in satellite telecommunications and internet, and has a useful life of 25 years, so it would conclude its service in 2040.
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