KLM’s Boeing 747 retires to village hotel garden

Call it landing a new job, and you would not be wrong. A Boeing 747-400 aircraft, having retired from air services, is set to resume to unique guest services at a village hotel garden in Amsterdam.

On Tuesday, the 150-tonne plane was wheeled from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and set to cross 17 ditches, the A9 highway and a provincial road ahead of reaching its final destination – the Corendon Village Hotel garden on Saturday.

Once known as the “City of Bangkok”, the former KLM aircraft will be resting its wings after 30 years of reliable service. In preparation, the 747 was flown to Rome for a Corendon-coloured paint job before aircraft recycling company AELS stripped it of all serviceable parts.

Dutch specialised transport company, Mammoet, will use a self-propelled trailer to transport the plane over three nights – February 5 (from 11pm to 7am), 8th (from midnight to 4am) and 9th (midnight to 4am).

Its stops will include a pasture and a meadow directly opposite the Corendon Village Hotel.

The most exciting part of the Boeing’s journey should be the final four-hour stretch as it will then become the first aircraft to cross highway A9 by land.

After reaching its final destination, the aircraft will be converted into a “Corendon Boeing 747 Experience”, which will open its doors mid-2019.

If you feel like braving the cold, Corendon’s designated website is offering limited spaces for visitors to get up close and personal with the 747 as it is moved. For those who can’t make it, a three camera-ready live stream will also be available.

The Corendon Village Hotel opened last year in the former headquarters of Sony. With over 680 rooms, suites and apartments it is the largest hotel in the Benelux (the politico-economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg).