John Travolta's Qantas Flying Mansion Finally Comes Home To Australia After Two Months At Sea

John Travolta’s old Qantas 707 has had a more interesting life than most celebrities. It flew for Australia’s national carrier, became Frank Sinatra’s private jet, was turned into Travolta’s flying mansion, spent years stuck in limbo, and has now arrived in Australia by boat because it can no longer fly.

The actor’s former Boeing 707-138 has finally arrived at Port Kembla in New South Wales after two months at sea from Georgia in the United States.

The aircraft was too restricted to fly to its new home, so the fuselage, wings and tail had to be dismantled, loaded onto a cargo ship and carefully unloaded in Wollongong like the world’s most glamorous flat-pack project.

A Flying Mansion With Movie Star Mileage

This is not just another old aircraft heading to a museum. Travolta bought the Boeing 707 from Qantas in 1998, renamed it N707JT, and turned it into the sort of celebrity toy that makes a Gulfstream look modest.

The commercial cabin was stripped out and replaced with 15 luxury armchairs, two bedrooms, a full bathroom, a sitting area, an entertainment room and a galley fitted for proper hosting.

The plane also carried serious Hollywood history before Travolta got near it. It was once owned by Frank Sinatra, which means this aircraft has probably seen better parties than most five-star hotels.

HARS vice president Maureen Massey said it had a history of movie stars being entertained onboard, which feels like a very polite way of saying the walls could write a memoir.

Travolta donated the aircraft to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in Shellharbour back in 2017, but getting it to Australia became a long-running aviation puzzle. The engines and smaller parts had already been sent ahead, while this week’s arrival of the fuselage and wings finally completed the biggest part of the move.

From Jet Set Icon To Museum Star

The aircraft will now travel about 15 kilometres south to Shellharbour Airport, where HARS will rebuild it and eventually put it on display. The restoration is expected to take at least six months, with the aim of getting the aircraft back to a taxi-able condition rather than flying again.

Moving it was not exactly a weekend trailer job either. The 707 is 46.6 metres long with a wingspan of 44.4 metres, and a small team spent 60 days disassembling it in Georgia before it could be shipped.

Port crews also had to consider tides, ramp angles and the awkward business of unloading a vintage airliner from a vessel without turning it into very expensive scrap.

The plane will never fly again, but that hardly makes it forgotten. After years stuck in limbo, Travolta’s old Qantas 707 has finally found the right ending. Not in the air, but still very much on show.