A Las Vegas bar, a wedding venue, and a Swedish hotel: How retired Boeing 747s are being turned into tourist attractions
David Becker, AREA15
- A retired Boeing 747 is being turned into a unique dining venue.
- The plane is among a handful of double-deckers that have been repurposed into tourist attractions.
- People can sleep in a 747 engine in Sweden, or rent out an entire 747 for a wedding in England.
You don't need to book a plane ticket to experience one of the most iconic — and quickly disappearing —passenger planes.
In February, Las Vegas entertainment venue AREA15 took delivery of a retired 45-year-old Boeing 747 and plans to convert it into an immersive cocktail and dining experience.
Imagine neon lights, a restaurant, and a dance floor where the passenger cabin once was. Plus, access to the old cockpit and the upper deck via a grand staircase.
"It's going to be like 20 feet up in the air and coming out of the building," AREA15 CEO Winston Fisher told Business Insider. "It's been a significant investment for us, millions and millions of dollars."
The double-decker was once a centerpiece of Burning Man, but it got stuck in the Black Rock playa in 2018 and was decommissioned. It was eventually put into storage until AREA15 bought it in 2022.
Fisher did not disclose an exact opening date or admission price for the 747 but said it would be a place to dine, drink, and party and would be "accessible to the public."
Repurposed 747s can be found around the world
While any large aircraft art piece may catch someone's attention, the 747 is particularly famous.
The quad-engine jet, nicknamed the "Queen of the Skies," was the world's first widebody plane and was launched in the 1960s to support the booming demand for air travel.
Aviation enthusiasts and historians have long hailed it as the catalyst for aircraft innovation and industry growth.
Dozens of carriers worldwide took advantage of the 747's mammoth capacity — which prompted cheaper plane tickets — and some used the upper deck to create luxurious lounges to attract high-paying customers.
However, the iconic 747 is disappearing from the skies as more efficient twin-engine airliners take over. Just four global passenger airlines still fly the plane commercially in 2025.
Most of the dwindling global fleet has gone to the boneyard, but a select few have found new life as tourist attractions in countries around the world.
Negus 747
British Airways retired its fleet of Boeing 747s in 2020 following the pandemic, but one has been preserved as a flightless "party plane" at England's Cotswold Airport.
Airport CEO Suzannah Harvey bought one of the decades-old jumbos for just £1 ($1.30) and converted it into an event space for things like weddings or birthday parties. The venue opened in 2022.
Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Cotswold Airport Events Ltd
The regular hourly rate is £1,000 ($1,285). It's pricey, but the 747 offers myriad amenities.
Guests can enjoy some of the original cabin seats, peer into the cockpit and the upper deck, and enjoy a dance floor and bar.
The renovations cost Cotswold about £500,000 ($642,900).
Edwin Remsberg / VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
One of the more convenient places to spend an overnight layover at Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the "Jumbo Stay" 747.
Located a short bus ride away from the terminal, the hybrid hostel-hotel boasts 33 bedrooms. The nose houses a lounge and kitchen, and a deck is over one of the wings.
The plane first flew for Singapore Airlines in 1976. It also flew for carriers like Pan Am, Cathay Pacific Airways, Garuda Indonesia, and Swedish carrier Transjet before settling at Arlanda in 2009.
Edwin Remsberg / VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The cheaper hostel-style dorms are gender specific and come with two or four bunks.
The most unique rooms are located in the wheel well and the four engines. One of the suites is inside the cockpit.
Most guests will share a bathroom, though the suites and select private rooms come with an ensuite toilet and shower.
Dive Bahrain
UAE-based Falcon Aircraft Recycling sunk the mammoth plane in 2019 to attract diving tourism in Bahrain, a Middle Eastern island nation in the Persian Gulf.
The company said on its website that it specially modified the wings for the project. Further, it was sunk to specific environmental standards, including removing materials that could be harmful.
The media outlet Arabian Business reported the jet was bought for $100,000 from the UAE, citing government officials.
Dive Bahrain
Hundreds of divers from around the world have visited the 747-turned-artificial coral reef, which is about 65 feet underwater.
Dive Bahrain managed the sunken 747 site after its opening, but trips closed during the pandemic. The company website appears down.
The Middle Eastern company Scuba Master, which offered a diving excursion to the 747, told BI the tours are still paused and didn't disclose a possible restart date.
If tours resume, the website says dives start at about $93 per person.
EQRoy/Shutterstock
Northwest Airlines first flew the 747 in 1988, and it was transferred to Delta in 2008 after the two airlines merged.
Delta retired the plane in 2015 and converted it into the "747 Experience," which opened as an exhibition in 2017.
It's part of the larger Delta Flight Museum near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is included in the $15 adult ticket.
Delta Air Lines
Delta outfitted the plane with educational material about the history of the 747 and its role in the airline's fleet.
Guests can sit in the old DeltaOne cabins in the nose, see the cockpit, and walk over the wing.
Delta also stripped many of the plane's panels to display some of its critical inner systems, such as air conditioning, pressurization, fuel tanks, flight control cables, and miles of wires.
