Fake Story Of A Saudi Arabia Man Accidentally Buying $300M Planes For Son’s Birthday Goes Viral

The fake story of a Saudi Arabia man who accidentally bought two Airbus jets worth approximately $300M for his son’s birthday became an instant social media hit. 

Satire Website "Thin Air Today's" Story On Saudi Man Accidentally Buying Two Aircraft Takes Off https://t.co/qIS2ETRa21 via @boomlive_in

— Sahara (@JustFabulous_S) August 27, 2019

The story originally appeared on Thin Air Today , an aviation news satirical website. The fake story of a Saudi Arabia man claimed that he bought the planes for his son who’s into aviation. The unnamed man had thought all along that he was buying small scale models for the plane. The mistake was realized months later when the Airbus manufacturers called him to say that the planes were ready for delivery. The story went on to say that when the unnamed man first heard of the $300M price tag, he ‘thought it was a bit expensive, but still reasonable’.

It quickly went viral with netizens sharing a screenshot of the story across different platforms. Many people believed it because it is not uncommon for some Saudi Arabians to be extremely wealthy. It was also quickly republished by different major news organisations across the world who later made corrections. 

[ Accidentally ] pic.twitter.com/1xoyxjmU3j

— Ramy and 3 others (@Ramyatrouny) August 27, 2019

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Saudi man accidentally gifted two planes worth $300m to son on his birthday . . A dad in Saudi Arabia accidentally bought two Airbus A350-1000s. He was searching for small scale models to present his son on his birthday but a language barrier resulted in one of the funniest headline stories of 2019. . . According to the Middle East Monitor, the Saudi man whose identity is not yet revealed is an investor in the energy sector. His son is a big fan of planes. While searching for small models of planes to gift on his son’s birthday, he called Airbus. . . It is the world 2nd largest aviation company. He wanted to place an order for model planes, however, his lack of communication and clarity in the English language caused communication barrier and resulted in a big confusion. . . The company presented the final price of $365 million and that apparently did not bother the Saudi investor much. “I got lost in currency conversations, thought about the price, little expensive but it’s okay”. . . A few months later, Airbus called him to inform the planes are ready to be delivered. When asked “who will fly the plane?”, the Saudi guy took it as a joke but soon found out that he has accidentally purchased two real Airbus planes. . . Now, the man has decided to keep one of the planes and give another as a gift to his cousin.

A post shared by INSTASCOOP9JA| Naija News Blog (@instascoop9ja) on Aug 28, 2019 at 11:26pm PDT

After some fact checking, however, the story was found to be fake. Airbus officials also came out to clarify that it wasn’t that easy to buy on of their planes, and a lengthy process would have to be followed including involving the government. If the story were true, the man would actually have paid double for the Airbus jets.

Featured Image Courtesy: Middle East Monitor