The world’s wildest Airbnb was once owned by Pablo Escobar — and it’s on a UK industrial estate
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Want to stay in the world’s coolest Airbnb? You’ll find it on an unassuming industrial estate in Bristol – and there have been some interesting ex-owners, to say the least. Businessman Johnny Palmer, 41, fulfilled his dream of allowing guests to live like billionaires after Bristol City Council approved his request to rent out a decommissioned Boeing 727 plane just outside the city centre.
![[An abandoned Boeing 727 plane has been transformed into the world's coolest Airbnb - and makes guests feel like billionaires. The private jet resides on an industrial estate in Bristol can cost up to ??850 per night. Originally built in 1968 and fitted out as a private jet in 1981, the aircraft was still flying up until 2012 - when it made its final journey to Filton Airfield. Bristol. December 31 2024. Photo released January 2 2025. An abandoned Boeing 727 plane once owned by Pablo Escobar has been transformed into the world's coolest Airbnb - and makes guests feel like billionaires.The private jet resides on an industrial estate in Bristol - and comes with a hot tub and sauna can cost up to ??850 per night.Originally built in 1968 and fitted out as a private jet in 1981, the aircraft was still flying up until 2012 - when it made its final journey to Filton Airfield.Businessman Johnny Palmer, 41, secured consent from Bristol City Council for his project.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234753605-0bba.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Johnny has completely repurposed the vessel, which was first built in 1968 and later transformed into a private jet in 1981 before being decommissioned in 2012. For him though, the intrigue isn’t just that it’s a plane – but that it was rumoured to have previously been owned by notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, as well as the Mafia and an Arab Prince.
He uncovered the stories behind the plane’s potential past ownership through conversations with online researchers, having realised that there are vast communities of plane spotters on the internet. ‘A couple of them have said that they reckon that Pablo Escobar had it because it was registered to a Cayman Island company,’ Johnny shares.
‘People who research airplanes and tail numbers get bits of information and cross-reference it to the registration date. ‘However, when things are registered to these offshore tax havens the whole point is that it is very hard to know what is true and what is not or to get any evidence for it – that’s the nature of offshore registrations.’.
