The Queen of the Skies has a cult-level fan following, so when a band with similar brand
status arranged for its very own jumbo jet, it was a match made in heaven. But what happened
to this jet, and where is it now? Nicknamed Ed Force One, the Boeing 747 registered
as TF-AAK took the band around the globe on the ‘Book Of Souls’ world tour, frequently
piloted by legendary frontman Bruce Dickinson himself.
Of course, it wasn’t the first plane Iron Maiden had at its disposal. From 2008 to 2009,
a Boeing 757 with registration G-OJIB flew the band for its “Somewhere Back In Time
World Tour”. And in 2011, G-STRX was liveried up in The Final Frontier World Tour to become
the newest Ed Force One. Despite the band’s love for the smaller
Boeings, for Bruce Dickinson, nothing could compare to the Queen of the Skies. Speaking
to Blabbermouth in 2016, he said the 757 was just not big enough anymore, saying:
“The [757] is just not big enough for what we’ve got in mind in terms of a show. So
what we’ve got onboard at the moment is the stage show … Everything we need will
be on the airplane, and all the technicians and baggage and everything else. We’re going
all around the world [from] Perth, Australia to Cape Town, Shanghai to New Zealand. We’re
really going ’round the planet.” And TF-AAK really did go around the planet
for Iron Maiden. Launching from Cardiff, it headed west.
Stopping at various points around the States, it headed down to Mexico, to gigs in Central
America and then down to South America. In Santiago, Chile, it was damaged in a collision
with a tug, but was rapidly repaired and sent back on its way.
It continued the tour around North America, taking in major venues in the USA and Canada.
Then it was across to Asia for performances in Japan and China, before heading south to
New Zealand and Australia.
The band then hit South Africa before heading north to perform no less than 51 dates around
Europe. Finally, they headed back to North America for additional tour bookings.
The final performance was in Brooklyn in July 2017. By then the band had played 117 shows
in 36 countries to more than 1.3 million fans. It earned them more than $91 million and cemented
their place in rock history. But what became of the 747-400?
Before removing her Ed Force One livery, TF-AAK made one last trip to bring 350 Icelandic
football fans to Marseille for an Iceland vs. Hungary match. She flew back to Keflavik
on June 19th. Hours later that same day, TF-AAK flew to the Middle East to start the next
phase of her career. After a month in maintenance to get re-liveried,
TF-AAK was painted as Saudi Arabian Airlines. Still owned by Air Atlanta Icelandic, she
joined the Middle Eastern airline on lease.
Since joining the fleet, she’s been in regular operation by the airline, flying between Jeddah
and several key destinations, including Surabaya, Addis Ababa and Dhaka. Sadly, due to current
events, she was parked up in March and hasn’t operated a passenger flight since.
Despite the demise of the 747 around the world, TF-AAK is still relatively young at just 17
and a half years of age. We’d anticipate she will return to service
for Saudia at some point in the future. In fact, according to FlightRadar24.com, the
airline operated a 22-minute flight from Jeddah to Jeddah in June, likely a maintenance flight,
suggesting they are planning to bring her back into operations when demand and restrictions
allow. Have you ever flown on TF-AAK? Let us know
in the comments.