Hey Blueloo,
If you reckon that's expensive I flew an empty B747-400 to Beijing years ago for a paint job. I then overnighted and paxed home the next day. The a/c stayed there for a week and another crew paxed up to fly it home.
On the way up we were POB 3 and burned around 98 tonnes of juice, it would have been a similar burn on the way home. Both flights were empty non-revenue flights.
Other a/c were sent to the US of A, as well as other locations, for paint jobs around then and probably still are.
Regards,
BH.