Mexico’s new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made good on his promise to make some changes to a typical luxurious presidential lifestyle.
On Monday, the presidential plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner TP-01, was taken to the Southern California Logistics Airport where it will be evaluated before being sold, Mexico’s Treasury Secretary, Carlos Urzúa said in a press release.
Earlier this year, before taking office, López Obrador vowed not to use the country’s presidential airplane, and opted for commercial flights instead. The Mexican president said in a video posted to Twitter that he would “die of shame” if he used “a luxurious plane in a country where there is so much poverty.”
Just one day after taking office earlier this week, López Obrador was spotted again on a commercial airline, where he flew in coach class to the state of Veracruz, the CNN affiliate ForoTV reported. Now he’s selling the presidential airplane, which was first purchased by the Mexican government in November 2012 for $218.7 million, CNN reported.
It is unclear how much the aircraft will sell for, but Urzúa said government officials will aim to maximize its value on the market.
“From now on, the public will be kept informed about the sale process, as well as the plan for its use, guaranteeing the transparency that this process demands,” Urzúa said in the press release.
López Obrador won the presidential election on July 1, becoming the fist leftist president in decades, according to the Washington Post. During his run for office, the new president vowed to the public that he would be different, and would be more accessible. Now he’s starting to deliver on those promises.
