How dreamy; this Las Vegas casino just bought a Boeing 787 Dreamliner
It's not uncommon for a major casino company to operate a fleet of private aircraft. Some planes are tricked out with all of the bells and whistles to jet around high rollers, while others are your ordinary narrow-bodies used to charter large groups.
But Resorts World Last Vegas just added a plane like no other to its fleet, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. With the capability to fly up to 262 guests in a two-class configuration, it now holds the title for the largest resort-owned airplane in Las Vegas, according to Resorts World.
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Resorts World purchased the 787 for $25 million from Crystal Luxury Air, a division of Crystal Cruises. Aside from the relatively low price tag for this kind of jet, something interesting to note is that Crystal is owned by Genting Hong Kong, a former subsidiary of Genting Berhad — the owner of Resorts World Las Vegas. Earlier this year, Resorts World purchased a 12-seat Bombardier Express XRS jet from Crystal as well.
The 787 was a 2017 build and bears the registration N947BA. Unlike its Boeing 777-200LR, Crystal went with a more traditional configuration for the Dreamliner. Assuming Resorts World keeps the original configuration, the plane will feature 18 business-class seats and 244 economy seats. The business-class seats are fully lie-flat but aren't especially private due to the 2-2-2 configuration. Meanwhile, economy class seats are arranged in a standard 3-3-3 configuration and offer 32 inches of pitch. The only real difference from most commercial 787s would be the walk-up bar at the end of the business class cabin.
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With a range of up to 8,200 nautical miles, it will allow for non-stop flights from Las Vegas to Asia, Europe and Latin America. The press release explains that this new addition provides Resorts World Las Vegas "the unique opportunity to explore innovative charter services outside the resort’s primary hospitality function."
Other casinos that offer larger-scale charter flights include MGM and Caesars, though they're usually operated by third parties.