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Jet at Augusta airport belongs to Muslim prince
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By Kennebec Journal Staff report June 04, 2008 04:41 PM




Someone is traveling in style.

A large jet arrived at the Augusta State Airport Tuesday morning.

The magnificent Bombardier, with an olive green and scarlet banner on the tail, was a pleasant and unusual surprise at the airport, Maine Instrument Flight President Bill Perry said.

“It’s one of the larger models that’s landed here,” Perry said.

The jet, registered as LX-PAK, belongs to His Highness Prince Karim al-Hussayni Aga Khan, according to the Web site www.planepictures.net, which identifies the aircraft as having the same registration number as the jet at the airport.

The jet’s formal name is listed as the Aga-Khan Bombardier BD-700 Global Express.

Best known as the Aga Khan, the prince has served as the spiritual leader of several million Muslims worldwide since 1957, his Web site said.

Though Maine Instrument Flight did not confirm the identities or number of people on board, Perry said the visitors are “from overseas. Honestly, I don’t know why they’re here.”

Perry also did not know when the visitors were leaving.

The plane is registered as being based in France, where the prince, 71, currently resides.

The Aga Khan has quite a few Maine connections.

In 2006, former Bowdoin College Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley, announced his resignation from his post at the college to move to France to take a position with the Aga Khan Development Network developing schools and academies.

In an e-mail, Bradley said he was unaware of the Aga Khan’s whereabouts Tuesday and did not know if he was in the United States.

Bradley is not the only Bowdoin College connection the Aga Khan has. His Highness also serves as a chancellor of the Board of Trustees of Aga Khan University, of which former Bowdoin College President Emeritus Robert H. Edwards is also a member.

A woman who answered the phone at Edwards’ residence Wednesday said Edwards is currently “away for a few days,” and could not be reached for comment.

The Aga Khan, called an imam by Muslim communities, considers himself a modern Muslim leader, according to his Web site. His followers live in over 25 countries around the world.

AGA KHAN'S ARRIVAL DIDN'T SIGNIFY MUSLIM TAKEOVER

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Looks like reporter Meghan Malloy pushed some mighty hot buttons this week with her story about the Aga Khan's private jet landing at the Augusta airport.

The Aga Khan is a wealthy man -- hence, the big private jet. Harvard-educated, son of one of the world's most notorious playboys during the last century (his dad was married for about 10 minutes to actress Rita Hayworth, who was one of his many wives) and a philanthropist and businessman of international note, the Aga Khan is also the spiritual leader of a branch of Muslims known as the Ismailis.

Which is what touched off an online series of comments that added up to an astonishing six dozen at last count. Put the words "Muslim" and "airplane" together and evidently you get "terrorist." Combine that with a lot of folks with too much time on their hands and a trigger finger with the keyboard, and you get ravings that knit together the potential election of Barack Obama, the 9/11 bombings, the Transportation Safety Administration and the Aga Khan into an imminent threat to the safety and security of the United States.

How could the Feds let a plane carrying Muslims into Augusta without a major inspection? If the Aga Khan is so powerful, why hasn't he helped track down Osama bin Laden? Surely liberal Democrats John Baldacci, Ethan Strimling and Beth Edmonds are rolling out the welcome mat for this dangerous man!

Wrote one reader: "do they think they have a right to just land here and take over the CAPITAL of maine. I'm a little concerned with the airport situation, every plane that lands should be checked and verified by customs, is this now an open door to our country."

Wrote another: "Who invited this guy? Did anyone tell him he's not welcome here! Go back to where you came from!"

It would be really upsetting if these comments constituted the Maine welcome mat for this man of distinction and accomplishment, who was apparently on his way to Harvard to accept an honorary degree to mark his work in economic development in third world countries. But in the sometimes self-correcting world of the Internet, good things can happen.

And in this case, a reader named SEBN of Augusta said what needed to be said: "The ignorant and racist comments in here are pathetic. He's Muslim. All of you that are convinced Muslim = terrorist need to build a bridge and get over it. Seriously."

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