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  July 1st, 2015 | Written by

Qatar Buys Four of the Last Five Boeing Globemaster III Transport Planes

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  • Qatar doubles its C-17 fleet with purchase of four aircraft from Boeing.
  • The Royal Australian Air Force brought two of the remaining eight Globemaster IIIs from Boeing.
  • The C-17 is in service with the the U.S., Qatar, Canada, Kuwait, India, the UK, Australia, the UAE, and NATO.

If you’ve got a spare $225 million in your pocket, you might be interested in buying a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft. But you’ll need to move fast as Qatar has contracted with the U.S-based aircraft manufacturer to purchase four of the last five of the giant aircraft that the company will produce.

The purchase, announced at the recent 2015 Paris Air Show, doubles the Middle Eastern nation’s C-17 fleet. It was the first country in the region to order C-17s, receiving a pair of the aircraft in 2009 and two additional C-17s in 2012, Boeing said.

The four C-17s purchased by Qatar are part of a group of eight aircraft that are in the final stages of assembly and testing at Boeing’s plant in Long Beach, California. Of the remaining four planes, two have been sold to the Royal Australian Air Force with another sold to an unnamed customer.

“We remain in communication with potential customers and are confident our full production line of C17-s will be sold,” said a Boeing spokesman.

The aircraft manufacturer is expected to shutter the assembly line operations at the Southern California facility after the last C-17 flys off, but the company has said it will “continue to provide C-17 sustainment operations for years to come.” Production of spare parts for the C-17 is expected to continue through 2017.

In addition to the U.S. Air Force and Qatar, the giant four-engined C-17 is in service with the armed forces of Canada, Kuwait, India, the UK, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and the NATO Heavy Airlift Wing.