Following another breakdown of the governmental plane  - this time carrying rescuers and their equipment back from Haiti - questions have resurfaced about the fleet used for the transport of Polish VIPs.

 

 

Among the most often used planes now are two  medium-range Russian Tupolevs which are not modern enough and costly to operate.

The Tupolev or Tu-154 is a medium-range trijet airliner designed in the mid 1960s. The aircraft has been exported and operated by  numerous non-Russian airlines and Air Forces. The Polish Air Force has two of them while the transport of Polish VIPs is operated by the 36th Special Aviation Regiment in Warsaw.

 

This is also not the first time that a governmental aircraft has broken down. Among the most publicizes cases was the incident from December 2003 when MI-8 chopper with the then PM Leszek Miller onboard crashed  in a forest near Warsaw after two of its engines broke down. 

 

Minister of Defense Bogdan Klich announced he was assured by the Minister of Finance, Jacek Rostowski, that funds for leasing new VIP planes have been secured in this year's budget. He thus confirmed that instead of starting a tender procedure for the purchase of new planes the ministry would simply lease Embraer 175 - twin-engined, medium range, jet airliner produced in Brazil - from LOT Polish Airlines. If everything goes according to the ministry's plan, the first Embraer 175  will be available in spring.