The ignominy is evidently too much to bear. When he flies to international summits President Sarkozy is confronted by a number of private jets that dwarf his French Airbus A319.

Even the Spanish and German leaders arrive in bigger aircraft, let alone Barack Obama’s mighty Air Force One.

Next month work will begin on a project to give Mr Sarkozy wings in keeping with his ambitions when French engineers take possession of an aircraft that will be turned into an ultra-modern presidential airliner.

Although not quite as big as the Boeing 747-200 that is Air Force One, the French A330-200 will be at least ten metres longer and two metres higher that the aircraft used by other European leaders. It will also be far more luxurious — as befits a man who called Mr Obama inexperienced, questioned the intellect of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, and disparaged Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, in comments to MPs last week.

The aircraft will have desks for Mr Sarkozy and a secretary, a meeting room for 12 people and a medical cabinet equipped to deal “with all emergencies”, according to Les Echos, the financial daily. There will be seating for 60 passengers and a bedroom and private bathroom, although aides denied rumours that this would have a full-size bath for Carla Bruni.

An encrypted communications system will be installed by Thales, the French defence electronics company, to keep the President in private contact with advisers. The company will fit anti-missile protection, which is likely to involve radars to detect attacks and decoy flares.

Work will begin on the ten-year-old A330-200 once it has been delivered to the Toulouse region of southwest France. The aircraft, which was bought from Air Caraibes, the Caribbean airline, is expected to come into service next year.

Mr Sarkozy is understood to have wanted a new aircraft but accepted a second-hand one to limit expenses.

The cost of buying and refitting the Airbus is €176 million (£157 million) — part of a €302 million overhaul of the fleet of official aircraft run by the French Air Force. Under the plan six ageing Falcon corporate jets will be replaced by two modern Falcon 7Xs and four Falcon 2000s.

Critics claim that Mr Sarkozy’s ego is overriding the need for budgetary restraint. But supporters of Mr Sarkozy said that it was an indispensable tool for a man who flew 324,595km (more than 200,000 miles) last year.

“We will go farther and faster, we will consume less petrol, we will be able to work on board and have all the modern means of communication,” said Christian Frémont, head of the President’s private office.

French government sources said that Mr Sarkozy considered stopovers a waste of time and was mortified to arrive in Beijing for an official visit in 2007 after French journalists, who flew direct from Paris.

The old aircraft has only two meeting tables and poor communications. “On board, the President is sometimes cut off,” Mr Frémont said. Neither Gordon Brown nor the Queen have a personal jet at their disposal, but rather tend to charter jets — often Boeing 747s or 777s — for official visits.

When on engagements within Britain or making short trips both the Royal Family and senior Government ministers fly in mid-sized jets belonging to the No. 32 Squadron of the RAF, largely reserved for VIP trips.

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