Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah flies his own plane to New Delhi

One of the world's richest people, the Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah piloted his own Boeing 747-400 aircraft to the Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi on Wednesday, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The Sultan of Brunei, who is in the national capital for the ASEAN-India Summit, will also be the chief guest of the Republic Day parade along with other head-of-states of the ASEAN countries.

According to the report, the aircraft landed with the Sultan himself in the cockpit, which surprised the officials present there to receive the Sultan.

This is the Sultan Bolkiah's maiden tour of India since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014.

The report suggests that officials have recalled having seen Sultan Bolkiah to have captained his aircraft even on his previous visits to India in 2008 and 2012, adding that he often pilots his 747-400 on overseas trips.

In October last year, Bolkiah celebrated 50 years on the throne of the oil-rich country. The Sultan is also known to have a passion for cars, maintaining a collection of over hundreds of vehicles in his palace's underground garage.