Air Transports of Heads of State and Government - People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

Air transportation for the President, Premier or government officials of the People's Republic of China is managed and operated by the 34th division of People's Liberation Army Air Force. Boeing 737s are used for these missions.

  • Boeing 737-76D × 2: B-4025, B-4026
  • Boeing 737-34N × 2: B-4020, B-4021
  • Boeing 737-33A × 2: B-4018, B-4019
  • Boeing 737-3TO × 2: B-4008, B-4009
  • Boeing 737-3Q8 × 2: B-4052, B-4053
  • Tu-154 × ?
  • Bombardier CRJ200 ER × 8~10
  • Bombardier Challenger 600 × 10
  • Learjet 45 × ?

A Boeing 767-300ER (formerly B-4025) was purchased by the Chinese government for use by President Jiang Zemin in 2000. This Boeing 767 was originally ordered by Delta Air Lines. An international incident occurred in 2001 when the government claimed it had discovered 27 bugs embedded in the aircraft's interior; the plane had been refitted in San Antonio, Texas. It had since been converted back to a normal passenger airliner and transferred to Air China as B-2499.

The PLAAF 34th division was formed in 1959. Types of aircraft formerly used for VIP air transportation including Vickers Viscount, Ilyushin Il-18 and Hawker Siddeley Trident. The plane which crashed in Mongolia in 1971, carrying defecting marshal Lin Biao, was a Trident registered as CAAC B-256, piloted by Pan Jingyin (潘景寅), deputy commander of the 34th division.

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