Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 01/01) - A cargo handler at the Inuvik Airport had a brush with glitz and glamour last week when a private Boeing 737 landed on the runway just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

The new white jet was unmarked but for three blue and grey stripes and its international registration number on the tail.

Oliver Falsnes, an employee of Marine Air Cargo, was curious when he saw the plane land, so he pulled up in his van to see what the pilots needed.

"I'm just kind of standing there," he recalls, "and the door pops open. Here's this lady and another guy and another lady. I yelled up, 'What is this? Your personalized Winnebago?'" To his surprise, Falsnes was invited in to take a closer look.

"My mouth was just hanging open," he says. "Half the airplane must have been a living room -- it was full of big huge leather couches and chairs just like you'd see in somebody's really fancy living room.

"Right behind that was the master bedroom with a big queen-sized bed and big screen TV. Right behind the master bedroom was a bathroom like nothing I've ever seen -- even in a mansion -- with gold handles on the toilet and sinks. It was just unbelievably luxurious."

Falsnes learned that the plane had been owned by a wealthy Saudi Arabian sheik. The woman who invited him in said she worked in the hospitality business and spent time attending conferences around the world to buy things like bathrobes, towels, and shampoo for her chain of salons.

The pilots, who Falsnes said sounded Canadian, said they had come from Victoria and were en route to Bangkok. The plane had to make a fuel stop in Inuvik because they were denied access to American airspace and would have to fly around Alaska due to heightened air security.

After giving two of his co-workers a tour of the plane, the woman hitched a ride with them into town to look around. They let her off at the Mackenzie Hotel and she said she'd take a cab back. Although she told him her name, Falsnes forgot it immediately amid all the excitement.

According to local airline types, the plane was a 400 or 500 series, which sells for in excess of $60 million, not including the fancy interior.

The registration number indicates the plane was registered in the Caribbean island of Aruba.