Saudi man ‘accidentally’ buys $300m planes for son

A father in Saudi Arabia has set the standards for parents buying birthday presents for their children when he accidentally purchased two Airbus A350-1000s after searching for small scale models of the plane for his son.

The Saudi man, who remains unnamed and is an investor in the kingdom’s energy sector, was searching for small models of the plane as a birthday gift for his son who is a big fan of aviation. When he called the world’s second biggest aerospace company Airbus to obtain the model planes, however, his lack of verbal clarity in the English language made communication between him and company difficult. “They asked so many questions about interior and exterior, I just thought they make very accurate scale models,” the Saudi was reported as saying.

When the price of around $365 million was presented to the man, it did not seem to deter him, saying that “I got lost in currency conversions, I thought it was a bit expensive but still reasonable.”

The full extent of the blunder was finally revealed when a few months later, Airbus called him to inform him that the planes were ready to be delivered. “They asked me who will fly it, I thought it was a joke.” The man eventually decided to keep one of the planes and give one away as a gift to his cousin.