Take the red-eye: Airbus A380 plane to be transformed into hotel

Opening slated for 2024

A380 will become a hotel and restaurant (Envergure)

Avgeeks can soon experience the high life while staying grounded, as a former Airbus engineer is converting a retired A380 – the world’s largest passenger plane – into a hotel.

Frédéric Deleuze plans to open the new digs in a unique super jumbo jet parked near Toulouse airport, with opening slated for 2024.

He wants the project to be “a tribute to this wonderful aircraft, [which is] nearly a religion for all Airbus employees,” he told The Points Guy.

“I love challenges and discovering new things continuously. Also, I always had in mind to create my own business.”

Having bought the aircraft for an undisclosed sum, Deleuze wants to transform the interior into 31 rooms, including two suites – one in the cockpit and one on the upper deck.

The hotel’s prices won’t be sky high, either: rates are expected to start at £92 a night, with suites costing £258.

The property is being marketed to appeal to “the curious, to enthusiasts, but also to tourists and professionals looking for marked originality and comfort.”

Inflight meals can be enjoyed in an adjacent 60-cover restaurant attached to the aircraft.

It will serve up “high-quality bistro cuisine” and will be “integrated into a building using the metaphor of a control tower”, according to a press release about the project.

Produce will be locally sourced as much as possible and waste kept to a minimum.

It’s not the first time a jet has been given a new lease of life once retired from an airline’s fleet.

A former British Airways jumbo jet which was bought for £1 has been transformed into a “party plane”.

The Boeing 747 was purchased by Cotswold Airport chief executive Suzannah Harvey in 2020, after BA decided to retire the aircraft from its fleet.

Since then, she and a group of volunteers have given the plane a new lease of life, turning it into a luxury events space complete with bar, which can be hired out for parties and private functions.

“I paid a pound for her, and we have a certain obligation to maintain it as is practical for public use,” said Harvey.

“The company has had to spend nearly £500,000 getting her prepped and ready here, but I think it’s money well spent and it preserves her for future generations.”