US seizes a Dassault Falcon 900EX plane from Nicolás Maduro: How much does it cost and how big is it?
The US Justice Department has seized an aircraft that was illegally purchased and smuggle out of the country “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”
The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that “aircraft owned and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro Moros and persons affiliated with him in Venezuela,” had been seized at the request of the US based on violations of national export control and sanctions laws.
Authorities said that the seizure of the Dassault Falcon 900EX took place in the Dominican Republic and the aircraft was then flown to the Southern District of Florida where it had been illegally purchased through a shell company and then smuggled out of the country.
“Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement of the Department of Commerce.
US seizes a Dassault Falcon 900ex plane from Nicolás Maduro: How much does it cost and how big is it?
According to the Justice Department, the aircraft cost approximately $13 million when persons affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to illegally make the purchase in late 2022 to early 2023.
The Dassault Falcon 900EX has a wingspan of nearly 63-and-a-half feet and measures slightly more than 66 feet in length. It stands almost 25 feet tall.
Its interior cabin space “is huge” at 1,264 cubic feet according to Jet Advisors. The cabin is 6.1 feet high and 7.7 feet wide, and minus the cockpit, 39 feet long. Its standard configuration, a double-club configuration and a three-person divan, can seat between eight and twelve passengers.
It also comes with a full-sized galley that can be set up with equipment for hot meal preparation. The rear luggage compartment, which is pressurized and air conditioned as well as accessible in-flight, holds 127 cubic feet of baggage.
It is made of titanium, Kevlar, and carbon fiber composites, making its frame very light weight but tough and sturdy. It is propelled by three Honeywell TFE731-60 engines, each of which have 5,000 pounds of thrust.
It has a maximum range of 5,180 miles and can reach a speed of .85 Mach. The Dassault Falcon 900EX can cruise at altitudes of up to 51,000 feet. The aircraft can maintain sea level pressure in the cabin at 25,300 feet.