Roman Abramovich’s Private Jet: The $350 Million Dreamliner Stuck in Dubai Since 2022

On March 4, 2022, a private Boeing 787 Dreamliner flew from Dubai to Moscow and back again the same day. That round trip is why Roman Abramovich’s private jet has been parked in the United Arab Emirates ever since.

Three months later, a federal court in New York authorized the United States to seize it, along with his Gulfstream G650ER. The Justice Department valued the pair at more than $400 million. Neither jet has been reported in US custody.

The court file also answers questions the jet’s coverage usually skips: what he actually paid for the Dreamliner, who owns it on paper, and where his famous Boeing 767, “The Bandit,” fits in. We traced all four of his jets through the FAA register, the unsealed affidavit and the airframe histories.

Does Roman Abramovich Still Own a Private Jet?

Not in his own name, and he cannot easily use the two he controls. His flagship is a Boeing BBJ 787-8 registered P4-BDL in Aruba. His long-range business jet is a Gulfstream G650ER registered LX-RAY in Luxembourg.

Both sit on paper with offshore companies. US investigators traced them through a British Virgin Islands company, a Jersey company and a Cyprus trust, and concluded in a sworn affidavit that Abramovich was the beneficial owner of both.

The 787 has been in the UAE since March 4, 2022. Flight-tracking data reported by Simple Flying in March 2025 placed it at Dubai’s Al Maktoum airport, with no international flights since sanctions began. The Gulfstream was last reported in Moscow, where the affidavit says it has stayed since March 15, 2022.

Many sites still describe the 767 “Bandit” as his current jet. It was replaced by the Dreamliner in December 2021 and put up for sale, and its last tracked flight was in February 2022.

Roman Abramovich’s Private Jet Fleet

Four aircraft can be tied to Abramovich with documents: two current jets named in the US seizure warrant, the 767 they replaced, and the Boeing Business Jet he flew before that.

Boeing BBJ 787-8 DreamlinerP4-BDL · serial 37306 · Wenham Overseas Limited (BVI)

US seizure warrant 2022 · in UAE

Built2015

BoughtDecember 2017, $93.65M (empty airframe)

Range9,960 NM (BBJ 787-8, 25 passengers)

Top speedMach 0.90

PassengersUp to 50 (reported)

Engines2x Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

Value~$350M (DOJ estimate)

Gulfstream G650ERLX-RAY · serial 6417 · Clear Skies Flights Limited (Jersey)

US seizure warrant 2022 · in Russia

Built2019

BoughtMarch 2020, ~$60M

Range7,500 NM at Mach 0.85

Top speedMach 0.925

PassengersUp to 19

Engines2x Rolls-Royce BR725

Boeing 767-300ER (767-33A) The BanditP4-MES · serial 33425 · ex N595HA

Listed for sale 2021 · ~$100M

Built2003, as a Hawaiian Airlines order

To ArubaFebruary 2005

Range5,980 NM (airliner, 218 seats)

Top speedMach 0.86

Engines2x Pratt & Whitney PW4060

Last tracked flightFebruary 25, 2022, Stansted to Basel

Boeing Business Jet (737-7CG)P4-GJC · serial 30751 · now N950TR

Sold · now on the US register

Built1999

RangeOver 6,000 NM (BBJ with auxiliary tanks)

Engines2x CFM International CFM56-7B27

Registered as N950TRAugust 2019

Current registrantOhio Resources LLC, Delaware

Russian media reported in 2007 that he had bought an Airbus A380 as well. No such jet was ever delivered. When Airbus cancelled a VIP A380 order in 2015, AIN called it the only VVIP A380 order, and that order belonged to Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

The Origin Story: From a Business Jet to a Private Dreamliner

Every jet in the fleet started as somebody else’s order or a factory whitetail, and the US register recorded each one on its way out of the country.

Inside P4-BDL: What the $350 Million Dreamliner Really Cost

Almost every article on Abramovich’s plane calls it a $350 million jet. That number is real, but it is the Justice Department’s estimate of what the finished aircraft is worth, not what anyone paid for it at once.

The affidavit gives the purchase price. On December 15, 2017, Wenham Overseas Limited paid about $93.65 million for the 787 as a “green” aircraft, meaning it had no finished interior. The rest of the value went in afterward, in Europe.

The airframe itself was not new. Boeing built serial 37306 in 2015, and the FAA issued its airworthiness certificate that September. Forbes Russia reported that it was built for the Swiss operator PrivatAir and never delivered.

It sat on the US register as N887BA, held by Bank of Utah as trustee, until it was exported to Aruba on March 22, 2018. Simple Flying reported that it then went to Basel for its cabin, and Forbes Russia reported it arriving in Moscow from Switzerland on December 18, 2021.

Those are Boeing’s figures for a BBJ 787-8 with 25 passengers aboard. Abramovich’s cabin layout has not been published, so treat the range as a guide for the type, not a measured number for P4-BDL.

Forbes Russia reported that the cabin carries up to 50 people: 30 guests, 10 staff and 10 security guards. Forbes called it the most expensive private jet in Russia and said no 787 had operated there before.

The size puts it among the biggest private jets in the world. A 787-8 airliner typically seats 248 passengers.

The Bandit: Abramovich’s Boeing 767

Before the Dreamliner, Abramovich flew a Boeing 767-300ER registered P4-MES. It was built in 2003 against a Hawaiian Airlines order that was cancelled, and Simple Flying reported that he bought it in 2004.

The FAA file shows its route to him. Serial 33425 was registered N595HA to a Wells Fargo trustee in July 2003, received its airworthiness certificate in December 2004, and was exported to Aruba on February 18, 2005.

Its nickname comes from the black stripes painted around the cockpit windows, which look like a mask.

What was reported inside

Simple Flying credited the interior to British yacht designer Andrew Winch, with chestnut furniture, gold trim, an office, a full kitchen and a 30-seat banquet hall. A master bedroom with a double bed and its own bathroom sat at the back.

The most repeated claim is an anti-missile system like the one on Air Force One. Simple Flying reported it without confirmation, and no document or manufacturer has ever confirmed it, so it belongs in the rumor column.

The 767 was listed for sale in late 2021 at about $100 million, according to aeroTELEGRAPH via Simple Flying. RadarBox data showed its last tracked flight on February 25, 2022, from London Stansted to Basel. We found no public report of a completed sale.

His first jet now flies on a US registration

Abramovich’s earlier jet was a Boeing Business Jet, a 737-700 based executive jet, registered P4-GJC. The same airframe, serial 30751, is now N950TR on the FAA register, held by Ohio Resources LLC since August 2019.

Simple Flying, citing ch-aviation data, reported in 2022 that Silver Air operated it on behalf of self-help author Tony Robbins. The FAA file names the LLC, not a person, so that link rests on the operator data.

The Seizure Warrant: How Two Flights to Moscow Grounded His Jets

Both jets were built in the United States, which is what gave Washington jurisdiction. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Commerce Department required a license to fly US-made aircraft into Russia, and removed the exceptions that had covered aircraft owned or controlled by Russian nationals.

Neither flight had one. The 787 flew Dubai to Moscow on March 4, 2022. The Gulfstream flew Istanbul to Moscow on March 12, then to Tel Aviv and Istanbul, and back to Moscow on March 15.

On June 6, 2022, US Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave of the Southern District of New York signed the seizure warrant, according to Flying Magazine. The Justice Department valued the 787 at about $350 million and the Gulfstream at about $60 million.

The same day, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security sent Abramovich a charging letter alleging three export violations. It sought penalties of up to twice the value of the two aircraft.

A warrant is not a seizure, though. Both jets were outside the United States when it was signed, and we found no public record since then that either has been taken into US custody, sold or forfeited.

Being named still matters. Trade-compliance firm Torres Trade Advisory pointed out that anyone who refuels or services the listed 787 without a US license risks penalties of their own, which leaves it unable to leave Dubai.

Roman Abramovich’s Most Famous Private Jet Moments

The Dreamliner lands in Moscow, December 2021

Forbes Russia broke the story of the 787 when it landed at Vnukovo from Switzerland on December 18, 2021. An unnamed industry source told the magazine that Abramovich had given himself a New Year’s present.

He had about ten weeks of normal use from it. By early March 2022 the jet was in Dubai, and it has stayed there.

Ben Gurion airport, March 2022

On March 14, 2022, Reuters photographed Abramovich in the VIP lounge at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, shortly before LX-RAY took off for Istanbul. Reuters could not confirm he boarded it.

Israel had just limited private jets to 24 hours on the ground, part of an effort to stop sanctioned Russians from parking aircraft there. The Gulfstream had arrived from Moscow late the night before.

Those were the weeks Abramovich acted as an informal go-between in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, at Ukraine’s request.

On March 28, the Wall Street Journal and Bellingcat reported that he and two Ukrainian negotiators had suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after a meeting in Kyiv earlier that month. A US official told Reuters that intelligence suggested an environmental cause instead.

The last flight before the grounding, March 4, 2022

The 787’s only flight named in the US case was a same-day round trip, Dubai to Moscow and back. It came two days after the second round of US export restrictions on Russia took effect, on March 2.

On that one trip, a jet bought as a $93.65 million airframe and finished into a $350 million asset became the subject of a forfeiture warrant.

How Abramovich’s 787 Compares to Other Private Airliners

Abramovich was one of several Russian oligarchs with private airliners, and his Dreamliner is the newest design in the table below, and the only one under a US seizure warrant.

Donald Trump’s 757 is the American parallel: a secondhand airliner turned private jet. It has a single aisle, while Abramovich’s 787 has two and a carbon-composite fuselage.

The Google founders’ 767 left the US register in 2018, the same year Abramovich’s 787 did. Theirs went to Guernsey; his went to Aruba and then to Basel for its cabin.