John Travolta’s classic Boeing 707 finally arrives in Australia after two months at sea
May 14, 2026
The Boeing 707 that once belonged to famous Hollywood actor John Travolta has arrived in Australia after spending the past two months crossing the Pacific Ocean by ship. The former Qantas-operated aircraft will now be reassembled and go on display at an aviation museum in New South Wales, where it will be open to the public from next year.
John Travolta’s Boeing 707 finally arrives in Australia
The Boeing 707, originally owned by Qantas and later by the US actor John Travolta, has finally arrived in Australia after two months at sea. Having been professionally dismantled in the US, the aircraft (registered N707JT) has been shipped in several parts to Australia, where a New South Wales aviation museum will reconstruct it.
Not only does the museum intend to rebuild the aircraft for display, but it also plans to restore it to a condition that allows it to conduct taxi runs at its new home airfield.
Having undergone an intricate dismantling process at Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (BQK) in Georgia under the watchful eyes of a specialist aviation engineering firm, Worldwide Aircraft Recovery, since mid-2025, the aircraft was transported to the port of Brunswick to be transported by sea to Port Kembla, located some 58 miles (93km) south of Sydney on the east coast of Australia.
The ship carrying the aircraft left the US on 19 March, finally docking in the Australian port on 12 May after travelling around 10,000 miles (16,000km) in total.
Originally delivered to Australian carrier Qantas in 1964, the aircraft is now in the process of being transported 13 miles southwards, where it will be reassembled and take up residence at the HARS (Historical Aviation Restoration Society) Aviation Museum.
The museum is located in Wollongong-Shellharbour Airport (WOL) near the town of Albion Park, located some 65 miles (100km) south of Sydney.
There, the engineering team at HARS hope to restore the aircraft to taxi condition, so that it can perform ground taxi runs at the airport to the delight of museum visitors. The aircraft also joins a former Qantas Boeing 747-400 (registration VH-OGA), which has resided at the museum since 2015.
The HARS Museum has close links with the Australian national carrier, with several key members of its engineering staff being former Qantas employees.
An epic story of aircraft dismantling and relocation
Since the start of 2016, N707JT had been stored at Brunswick Airport, located five miles (8km) north of the city of Brunswick in Georgia, United States. It flew there from Travolta’s home near Ocala in Florida for a routine maintenance inspection.
However, Boeing engineers determined that the aircraft could no longer be certified as airworthy due to corrosion and other issues, meaning it had effectively flown for the last time.
Although Travolta had owned the aircraft as part of his own private aircraft collection since 1998 and named it ‘Jett Clipper Ella’ after two of his children (Jett and Ella), the plane started its career flying for Qantas and flew in Qantas livery until its final flight.
John Travolta's luxury 707 plane bound for Shellharbour museum arrives by boat https://t.co/csUQXuhqra
— paul czaplicki (@PCz911) May 13, 2026
As such, Travolta decided to donate the aircraft to the HARS in New South Wales, marking the start of a lengthy process to transfer the aircraft to Australia.
While original plans hoped to see the aircraft return to flying status for the one-off ferry flight across the Pacific Ocean, the extent of the corrosion meant that this would not be possible. Instead, HARS hatched a plan to relocate the plane by ship, which has finally culminated in N707JT’s final arrival in Australia this week.
How to relocate a vintage airliner from the US to Australia
The dismantling of N707JT began in mid-2025 when the tail, horizontal stabilisers and engine were detached from the aircraft. Since September, at least one of the engines from the aircraft has been put on display at the HARS Museum. HARS staff have been making regular trips to Brunswick throughout the dismantling process.
Then, in early 2026, the rest of the dismantling process got underway. The landing gear was removed, and the aircraft was placed on a special trailer to allow the removal of the wings. By early March, the wing detachment was underway, a process that is as meticulous as it sounds, with thousands of bolts and rivets having to be removed and catalogued.
With the wing removal completed in mid-March, the aircraft’s epic journey across the Pacific could finally get underway. Having now reached Australian shores, the aircraft will arrive at HARS in the coming days, giving museum visitors a glimpse of what flying must have been like back at the dawn of the jet age.
Why this Boeing 707 is a part of Australian aviation history
While N707JT is not just one of a few surviving Boeing 707s worldwide, its heritage goes much further back than simply being owned by a famous celebrity.
The aircraft, originally registered as VH-EBM with Qantas, was a special model of the Boeing 707 built only for Qantas right at the start of the jet age. In 1958, Qantas became the first foreign customer to order the 707, with its customer number ‘38’ meaning that the aircraft would be designated as a 707-138.
However, Qantas requirements dictated that the standard Boeing 707 had to be shortened by around three metres (10ft) to lower its empty weight to improve airfield performance and enable greater range. Boeing happened to already have a design that fitted the bill in the form of the KC-135 military tanker aircraft.
Now designated the 707-138B, the Qantas 707s had a standard take-off weight of 247,000 lb with Pratt and Whitney JT3C turbofan engines producing 13,000 lb of thrust.
Becoming known as the ‘Hot Rod’, the 707-138Bs became an important sub-fleet within the Qantas International operation, facilitating flights to certain airports with high temperatures and short runways across the Asia-Pacific region.
Featured image: Cory W. Watts / Wikimedia Commons
