Vision airlines takes front and center in spy swap

While US and Russian spies were being swapped on a tarmac, the U.S.A. was represented by a private charter jet. The business of Vision Airlines is typically escape travel, but they got the contract for this flight. There are some politicians asking why a private business was used for government business.

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Vision Airlines swaps spies

This morning, a Vision Airlines jet met up with a Russian Emergency Ministry Jet in Vienna. Fourteen agents switched the planes – ten accused Russian agents and four "Western Sympathizers. The biggest post-Cold War era spy drama was hopefully over once both planes took off.

How Vision Airlines got the job

A couple of questions have been raised over why the US chose a luxury charter jet rather than an official airplane. Russia obviously took a more austere approach with the government plane. Was the choice of a luxury jet meant to pamper spies? Was each and every other plane in the entire United States already taken? It is possible that both the United States and Russia agreed to not use military planes, just in case. Either way, the choice of a luxury charter jet to swap spies is an interesting one. No word on if the various thousand dollar flight fee was donated, or if the bill is going to the government. Vision Airlines is certainly getting attention for the choice – their site has crashed multiple times today.

Keeping tepid relations going

The Chief of Staff of the White House has said that "the president was 'briefed'" on decisions related to the spy swap. Avoiding as much conflict as possible seemed to be one of the biggest goals of the decisions made. Both of the countries have expressed a desire to keep the tepid relations from again turning cold.