Beyond Air Force One: Flying fleets of world leaders

While average citizens have to deal with crowded airports, cramped cabins and frequent delays, their national leaders are flying much friendlier skies. From the Qatari emir to the German chancellor to the U.S. president, world leaders approach their fleets as both a means of transportation and a show of national pride. But not all powerful planes are made alike, and their purposes vary from ferrying leaders to and from official visits to transporting troops in case of an emergency.

The Air Charter Service, an aircraft charter provider with 20 offices around the world, compared the planes that some of the world's most powerful men and women use to get around on official state business. The study released in May found that Russian President Vladimir Putin held the record for the largest overall fleet, with 68 airplanes and 64 helicopters. Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, meanwhile, owns the most expensive fleet out of the leaders studied, valued at over $1.5 billion.

While President Donald Trump has the oldest fleet out of the group, UK Prime Minister Theresa May's plane is able to hold the most people, at 160. And some leaders — like Xi Jinping, the president of the People's Republic of China — don't actually own their own planes, preferring to fly commercial. Take a look at the fleets of six world leaders in the gallery above.