Look at my new toy: Lord Sugar shows off his new £18.5million Embraer Legacy 650 private jet
For millions the economic downturn has meant forgoing life’s luxuries but Lord Sugar’s Britain is a little less austere.
The 63-year-old tycoon revealed he has just bought a new £18.5 million private jet - announcing the details on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Lord Sugar showed off the plane, which has G-SUGA emblazoned across it, by posting pictures on Twitter and also dedicated an entire album to it on his Facebook page.
He put up an array of photographs including ones of him receiving the keys and posing next to the vehicle, as well as a video of it taking off.
Lord Sugar said he was 'delighted' with the 13-seat Embraer Legacy 650 and marveled at how quiet it was when up in the air.
He added: ‘It is fast, it has a very generous hold, accessible from the cabin and is ideal for the 300 hours or so of business flying I do every year.’
The star of BBC1’s The Apprentice already has a Legacy 600 jet, which is understood to be worth around £15 million, and a fleet of luxury cars including a Range Rover, a Bentley and a Ferrari.
Riding in style: Lord Sugar has named the sleek jet G-Suga
Lord Sugar, who has a pilot’s licence, has said he prefers flying privately because he hates the stress of modern travel.
‘It is my little luxury. Standing around at airports, checking in and all that stuff, gets on my nerves,’ he said in an interview earlier this year.
The new jet, which will be kept in a hangar at Stansted Airport, features three cabin areas and a large bathroom, as well as high speed broadband while in the air, leather chairs and a state-of-the-art entertainment system.
Lord Sugar became a millionaire in 1980 at the age of 33 when he floated his company Amstrad on the stock market.
In the cockpit: Even though Lord Sugar is a qualified pilot, he said he isn't licensed to fly this particular model
Luxurious: The all-grey interior of the private jet
He is now worth an estimated £800million and has mansions in Chigwell, Essex, Spain and Florida.
This year’s The Apprentice is on air now after being moved from its usual spring slot.
It had to be rescheduled after Lord Sugar was given a peerage and made the government’s enterprise tsar by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
He was unable to have the political role and appear on the BBC in the run up to the election without breaching editorial guidelines.
This winner of this year’s series – the sixth – will still sign a £100,000 contract working with Lord Sugar in some part of his empire.
Avoiding the crowds: Lord Sugar admitted he detested airports and his private jet would cut the hassle out of his frequent business trips around the UK
But it is understood that executives hope the twist for 2011 will help keep the series appearing fresh.
He revealed next year’s winner will not get a £100,000 job with him.
Instead Lord Sugar will help create a new business with the successful candidate and offered a start up cash injection of £250,000.
The move means the 2011 series is likely to look for different skills and attributes than the traditional contest.
Lord Sugar only signed up to micro-blogging site Twitter in August – more than two years after the social networking site first gripped the nation.
But the multi-millionaire has wasted little time getting to grips with the service, which allows users to tweet 140 character updates about what they are doing in real time, and has around 146,000 followers.
The entrepreneur regularly tweets about his show, his autobiography and has already managed to have a spat with presenter Kirstie Allsopp about something she had tweeted.
Along with flying, cycling is Lord Sugar’s sporting passion and it explains why he’s far trimmer on our screens now than when The Apprentice began in 2005.
At his heaviest, the 5ft 6in businessman, weighed in at more than 14st 7lb, but since taking up road cycling three years ago he has lost around 3 stone.
source:dailymail