Retired planes have plenty of chances at being given a second life. Some are turned into restaurants and event venues, while others are transformed into hotel rooms and even offices. The possibilities are endless.
One of the latest and most luxurious retired aircraft transformations to catch AeroTime’s attention is a Boeing 737 that has been renovated into a luxury private villa overlooking Nyang-Nyang beach in Bali, Indonesia.
Called the Private Jet Villa by Hanging Gardens, it’s what aviation geek fantasies and island dreams are made of.
Behind the idea
Felix Demin is the developer and owner of Private Jet Villa. Demin owns Bubble Hotels, unique luxury accommodation around the world which allows guests to sleep under the stars in comfort.
In an interview with Globe Trender, Demin said that Private Jet Villa all began in 2021. His girlfriend wanted “a plane of our own” and when they found the retired Boeing 737, which used
to belong to Mandala Airlines, Demin knew that he wanted to convert the aircraft into a villa.
He said: “I already had experience in building the Bubble Hotel Bali chain and I understood that I should make some interesting non-standard hotels, since they are in greater demand.”
Where was the plane from?
The aircraft was a retired Boeing 737 that was previously owned by the now-defunct Mandala Airlines.
Mandala Airlines, which is now known as TigarAir Mandala, originally started operations in February 1970 and was resurrected on April 5, 2012 under the assistance of Tigerair Singapore.
The logistics
While Private Jet Villa may look luxurious now, the logistics and operations of transporting the aircraft to its location was anything but.
The painstaking process of positioning a 30-ton Boeing 737 aircraft on a seaside cliff in Bali involved two months of planning and took five days to carry out.
In a video uploaded to his Instagram account, Demin said that as well as needing a special permit for the transport, his team also had to get the police involved.
The streets of Bali are narrow and small, so Demin’s team had to cut a lot of electrical wires on the road in order to make way for the aircraft’s passage.
The aircraft also had to be disassembled according to factory standards. The fuselage was split into two, the wings were dismantled, the cap was removed from the nose, and so on.
Disassembling and reassembling the aircraft is one thing, but making sure that the plane is nestled safely on a seaside cliff is something different entirely.
Bali is located within the Ring of Fire, a major fault line along the island’s southern coast, so a safe foundation was designed for the aircraft to sit securely on.
The interiors
If the dramatic vision of a passenger aircraft situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking the beach is not stunning enough, its luxurious interiors are likely to take your breath away.
To give the feeling and illusion of more space, light and neutral colors were used in the interiors. Brass and metal elements were also added as accents for an opulent look.\
In an interview shared on Demin’s Instagram page, the interior designer behind Private Jet Villa, Geometrium, revealed that the main difficulty was the lack of flat spaces inside the aircraft because of the fuselage’s rounded shape.
The designer also said that in order to provide a luxurious feel without going over budget, the company ordered high-quality copies of Italian furniture from China. Furniture also had to be customized to fit the round fuselage.
Due to the aircraft being made out of metal, it naturally attracts heat. But fitting the aircraft with air conditioning posed yet another challenge. The designers wanted to make sure that air conditioning was out of sight to maintain the aesthetic shape of the aircraft, so the unit was placed underneath the plane and attached pipes to funnel cool air in the interior.
The Boeing 737’s cockpit is now a bathroom equipped with a stone tub that overlooks the ocean and the business class cabin has been transformed into a kitchen, dining area and living room.
The aircraft’s wings have been converted into terraces next to an infinity pool. Surrounding the plane itself is a garden that can accommodate a fire pit.
Influencers’ stage
With its dramatic setting and stunning views, Private Jet Villa has unsurprisingly become a backdrop for video and photography shoots.
YouTubers, Instagrammers and TikTokers from all over the world have used it to stage fashion shows and shoots, proposals, and other content.
Now open
Private Jet Villa officially opened in March 2023. The retired Boeing 737 is now a two-bedroom private villa with views of the Indian Ocean.
Rates begin at around $7,300 per night.
