The Sunday Times reports that the Queen of England is in the market for a new plane. No Air-Force-One-sized jet for the Queen though, word from Buckingham Palace is that they are in the market for a small executive plane like a Gulfstream or Learjet. The plane would also be available for use by Gordon Brown and senior ministers.

The plane w ould be paid for by taxpayers and would include the usual private plane bells and whistles such as catering facilities and in-flight entertainment. The Queen had previously been able to use larger planes provided by the RAF. Also in the past, Prince Charles and other royals have chartered planes or flown first class for their royal tours, which they will still have to do for longer trips. The new plane will be best for short jaunts. The prime minister opted against a larger plane for himself and the royals because of the price. A decision on the type of plan and specific purchase details probably won't be available until later this year.

What's particularly interesting about the comments section of the article is that many of those who wrote in believe the Queen (and to some extent Gordon Brown) should have a bigger plane.

As some business jet services like MAXJet and Eos are folding, while fuel costs and other annoyances plague private plane owners, a company called Talon Air apparently sees nothing but clear skies ahead. The on-demand luxury private jet charter and management service just added the ultra-luxe Legacy 600 (pictured here) to its fleet in order to meet increasing demand. We asked Adam Katz, Talon's owner and founder (and full-rotation pilot) to explain his apparently incongruous bullish outlook.

"The luxury travel sector will continue to improve," Katz tells Luxist. "The absence of those jets in the market just increases the demand for ultra high-end services like ours. Operators providing safe, luxury travel with all the amenities that are associated with these services will continue to prosper." As for onerous tariffs, "The government's inclination to impose further taxes on the general aviation and corporate or luxury travel operators will not change the broad demand for high end services," he insists. "People will always be willing to pay a fair price for exquisite, safe and convenient travel."

The twin-engine Legacy 600 (see the gallery below) can accommodate up to 13-passengers in its plush, Wi-Fi equipped 6-ft. tall cabin. It cruises at a speed of up to Mach 0.80 and has a range of 3,250 nautical miles, enough to fly nonstop from New York to London, from London (or Geneva) to Dubai, and from Singapore to Beijing. And judging from the glowing testimonial on Talon Air's website, tennis ace Pete Sampras is a big fan.

Summer vacation season is still a month off but the NY Sun deliver some bad news for the wealthy who are planning to travel by private plane or yacht. A number of states are looking to tax private planes and yachts that come to their states and stay for a short time. Currently New York does not tax nonresidents who bring aircraft or boats into the state but Maine charges pilots who have their plane in the state more than 20 days a "use tax." A use tax is a form of excise tax levied on personal property. The NY Sun article reports that a Massachusetts pilot got a bill for more than $25,000 for keeping his plane in the state in 2003.

The Maine state government website has addressed the use tax controversy clarifying their policies by saying that "in most situations, nonresidents flying into Maine do not owe the tax and are not at risk of being assessed." They also stress that the Maine use tax is not a possibility unless an aircraft comes into Maine within the first 12 months after its purchase by a nonresident and that if the aircraft is present in Maine within the first 12 months for purposes other than repair and maintenance, no Maine use tax is due if a sales or use tax of 5% or more was paid in another state. In the case of the pilot in the NY Sun article he had not paid sales tax when he bought the plane in Massachusetts because Massachusetts does not charge sales tax on planes. Pilots are also wary of traveling in Florida, Illinois, and Washington which have all toughened enforcement of sales and use taxes on aircraft. Each state has its own policies on use tax so it's a good idea to check the state website if you are planning to keep your yacht or plane in a state other than your home state for longer than a couple of weeks especially if your plane or boat is a new purchase and you did not pay sales tax.

And there was more bad news from the Senate recently. The U.S. Senate voted in favor of legislation to raise taxes on gasoline for private jets. The tax hike will help pay for updating the FAA air traffic control system. The bill will have private jet owners paying 36 cents per gallon in tax up from 21.8 cents.

Ever since I heard about the Airbus A380, I knew it would make someone one very luxurious private plane. We've seen pictures of the proposed interior before but until now we didn't have owner to put with all that luxury. A while ago it was rumored that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was the owner but Airbus has announced that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is the first private buyer of an A380. Prince Alwaleed's Flying Palace will not be his first plane, he already owns a Boeing 747-400. A gallery of the desert-themed designs for the A380 done by Edese Doret can be found here.

The whole idea of having a private jet, besides the obvious privacy aspect, is that you get to have it decorated however you want, right? Maybe not, depending on exactly what features you're after. Any plane that wants to fly in U.S. airspace has the Federal Aviation Administration to comply with, and no matter how fancy you make it a plane just isn't any fun when it's stuck sitting on the ground.

On the bright side, many features can be modified or changed to where they're still enjoyable but don't break any laws -- like chandeliers are okay if they're retractable, and you can have all the heavy mahogany and big screen TVs you want as long as you're willing to trade off in terms of increased fuel and lower over-all capacity for things like passengers and cargo.

So what isn't okay, ever, on a plane? An open flame, which automatically rules out features like fireplaces and gas stoves.

But as long as you have a golden toilet, who cares.

Ukraine's president Viktor Yuschenko is getting quite the present, a fancy new plane. ITAR-TASS reports that Ukraine has raised 12 million dollars for a luxury plane for President Viktor Yushchenko. The presidential An-74 plane was decorated with amber, mahogany and 18K gold and is being tested at the Kharkov aircraft plant. The lining of the interior features rare gems and the lamps and handles are all gold per the demands of the first lady, Yekaterina Yushchenko.