MEXICO City (AP) — Just after just about 4 1/2 a long time of making an attempt, Mexico’s president said Thursday he has eventually sold the unwelcome presidential jet — to the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned the authorities of Tajikistan paid the equal of about $92 million for the Boeing 787 jet.

López Obrador refused to use the jet following having business office on Dec. 1, 2018, saying it was much too magnificent. The austerity-loving president normally normally takes professional flights.

López Obrador had experimented with to lure firms and organization executives to purchase the jet, but uncovered no takers. He even symbolically “raffled off” the airplane, which would be pricey to change back into a standard airliner.

The aircraft was obtained for $200 million and was made use of by the earlier president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

It has been tough to promote simply because it is configured to have only 80 people and has a complete presidential suite with a non-public bath. Experts reported it would be expensive to reconfigure into a standard passenger jet that would carry up to 300 passengers.

Even though the airplane has comparatively couple miles on it, Mexico was keen to unload it mainly because maintence costs make it costly to hold parked. There experienced been talk the Boeing 787 could be turned around to an army-run firm for use as a professional jet.

“After a extensive time, we managed to sell the airplane,” López Obrador reported in a video clip from within the plane, which he had formerly refused to board. “We are satisfied.”

“We are likely to use the income from offering the plane to make two hospitals,” he claimed.