CAMPAIGN ’88 : Flying Exorbitant Class

In the wake of its victory in the New Hampshire primary, the George Bush for President organization chartered a Boeing 727 airliner to carry an expected horde of journalists around the South while the vice president traveled aboard Air Force Two this week.

Under such an arrangement, the cost of the aircraft rental is divided among the passengers. But this week, Bush did not attract the anticipated crowd of journalists: 38 passengers had been expected, and about 18 bailed out before the trip began.

So the trips became exorbitantly expensive. One circuitous route that went from Houston to Greenville, S.C., over several days cost each passenger $5,503. When the bills were delivered, reporters who had been searching for several days for just the right name for the aircraft dubbed the 727 Air Ghorbanifar.

Manucher Ghorbanifar was the middleman in the shipment of arms to Iran, during what became known as the Iran-Contra affair, and was one of the few people known to have profited handsomely from the operation at the expense of the United States.