Croatian Government Jet Costs Revealed

The official plane of the Croatian government, the Challenger CL-604, has made a total of 4,598 flights since it first came into the government’s possession 15 years ago, at a total cost of over 100 million kuna (13 million EUR). Each hour the plane is in the air it costs the state budget 3,300 USD, reports daily Jutarnji list.

The aircraft is owned by the Republic of Croatia and is used for official air travel for the Croatian Government, the Croatian President, Parliament and other users under the authority of the Croatian Prime Minister, such as urgent flights to transport organs or seriously injured persons.

According to information Jutarnji list received, the plane traveled the most in the period from 2004 to the end of 2009, when the now jailed Ivo Sanader was Prime Minister and Stjepan Mesic was President. 2,517 flights were made in that period with the plane in the air over 2.760 hours.

The Challenger CL-604 was first acquired by the government in August 1997, with Croatia’s first President Franjo Tuđman the first to use the plane. From August 1997 to the end of 199 the plane made 307 flights, spending 456 hours in the air. In the last 15 years the plane has been in the air 5,316.7 hours.