Welcome to one of the world’s coolest stays! Here you can spend the night onboard a real jumbo jet – on the ground!
Jumbo Stay (formerly the Jumbo Hostel) is a hostel/hotel located inside a decommissioned Boeing 747-200 aircraft at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden. It has 33 rooms, 76 beds, and officially opened in January 2009.
Jumbo Stay is housed within a preserved Boeing 747-212B.[1] The 747 was built for Singapore Airlines, and entered service in 1976 under the registration 9V-SQE. In 1984, it was sold to Pan American World Airways, for which it flew until 1991 as N727PA Clipper Belle of the Sky.[1][2][3] Later, it operated for Cathay Pacific Airways, Garuda Indonesia, and others.[4] Its last air operator was Transjet, a Swedish charter airline based at Arlanda Airport that went bankrupt in 2002.[5]
The aircraft was subsequently acquired by Oscar Diös, who had previously run a youth hostel in Uppsala.[1][5][6] Diös was developing a concept of running hostels inside many different objects, including boats, trains and lighthouses. When he found out that a retired aircraft was for sale at Arlanda Airport, he decided to try setting up an airport hostel inside it, as there were no hostels or budget hotels nearby.[2][7] In December 2007, the municipality of Sigtuna granted him a building permit to establish a hostel within the aircraft, at the entrance to the airport.[1][2]
Following a restoration that began in January 2008 and cost the equivalent of more than US$3,000,000, the aircraft was towed in Summer 2008 to its new permanent location,[1][2][8] on a grass-covered mound just outside the airport's perimeter.[9] Its interior had been almost entirely changed, including by the removal of 450 seats.[2][10] However, a selection of its features, such as the flight controls and some of the original seats and windows, had been retained.[10]
At its permanent site, the aircraft was mounted on a concrete foundation, and its landing gear was secured in two steel cradles.[1] Additionally, a set of metal stairs and a lift were installed at its main entrance on its left side.[4]
The owner began taking bookings in late 2008, and officially opened the transformed aircraft as "Jumbo Hostel" on 15 January 2008.[4][9] He also named it "Liv", after his daughter.[1][7] Since then, the business name has been changed to "Jumbo Stay".[1][6]
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