In India, where the cheetah was proclaimed extinct in 1952 due to habitat destruction and poaching, the arrival of eight of the animals in Gwalior on September 17 was a historic event. The tiger’s face-painted Boeing 747 that carried the cheetahs from Namibia rapidly became viral on social media. Contrary to common belief and some media reports, it was not specifically painted for the occasion.
Newschecker claims that the plane was actually painted by Russian carrier Transaero back in 2015. The Siberian Tiger was painted on the plane with the intention of raising public awareness of the species. The report went on to say that the painting was the result of a partnership between the airlines and the Amur Tiger Centre, a project that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed.
At the Moscow Vnukovo airport, a plane with a painting of a tiger on its nose made its debut appearance in June 2015. However, after Transaero declared bankruptcy, the aircraft was stored in Spain until 2021, when Sharjah-based Aquiline International bought it and leased it to Terra Avia of Moldova.
Therefore, using that particular aircraft to transport cheetahs to India was either a complete coincidence or part of a deliberate plot; nevertheless, the claim that the plane was particularly decorated for the occasion was untrue. The second conceivable reason, according to Newschecker, is that this was one of the only jumbo-sized passenger planes accessible for carrying cheetahs. Action Aviation, based in Dubai, organised the plane for the undertaking.
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