{"id":10562,"date":"2026-05-13T12:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10562\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:26:07","slug":"john-travoltas-luxury-plane-bound-for-shellharbour-museum-arrives-by-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10562\/","title":{"rendered":"John Travolta’s luxury plane bound for Shellharbour museum arrives by boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a luxury jet that was once the plaything of Hollywood superstars, this was perhaps a fall from grace.<\/p>\n

After two months at sea, travelling from Georgia in the US to Australia, the fuselage, wings and tail from John Travolta’s old aircraft have been unloaded in Wollongong.<\/p>\n

The vehicle carrier transporting the prized cargo docked at Port Kembla around midday today.<\/p>\n

The vice president of the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS), Maureen Massey, said the momentous occasion came after nearly a decade of waiting.<\/p>\n

“It’s so exciting because we’ve waited so many years for this to happen, and to have it here on Australian soil is such a thrill,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We had no intention of doing this nine years ago when it was first donated, but this was the best way to get it back to Australia.<\/p>\n

“The day has arrived, and here it is.”<\/p>\n

Dual star power<\/p>\n

While the enduring celebrity of John Travolta attracts attention to the plane, it was owned by another big name before him.<\/p>\n

“Not only did John Travolta fly it, prior to him owning it, it was Frank Sinatra’s,” Ms Massey said.<\/p>\n

“I think it had a fair history of movie stars being entertained onboard.”<\/p>\n

\"Maureen<\/p>\n

Maureen Massey says the plane has already attracted significant interest in the aviation museum. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

The plane parts will now be transported 15 kilometres south to HARS at Shellharbour Airport, where they will undergo a rebuild and be put on display.<\/p>\n

The rebuilding process is likely to take at least six months.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The aircraft had to be carefully dismantled by a team of experts in the US. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

“We’ll take our time, but we’ll get it together, and it will be at a taxi-able stage and the amount of interest from different organisations already is amazing,” Ms Massey said.<\/p>\n

“It’s been such an ordeal to get it here, and with what’s happening in the world with different conflicts, it was heart-in-mouth about whether we were doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

“In the long term, it’s going to be a wonderful thing for HARS and for Australian history in general.”<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob De La Hunty and Maureen Massey from HARS have both toured the plane extensively with John Travolta. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

Why is the plane here?<\/p>\n

John Travolta first announced he would donate the plane to HARS almost a decade ago.<\/p>\n

The former Qantas ambassador purchased the Boeing 707 and fitted out a luxury interior that includes two bedrooms, a bathroom and entertaining areas.<\/p>\n

Despite being in excellent condition, airworthiness restrictions meant members of Shellharbour’s HARS were unable to fly it to Australia.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

Hollywood star John Travolta talks to media in front of the Connie aircraft at the Shellharbour Airport in November 2019. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

Instead, the plane was dismantled and sent by ship.<\/p>\n

The plane’s engines and small parts have already been sent to the museum, but today’s arrival of the fuselage and wings was the final piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

Transporting a plane by sea<\/p>\n

The Boeing 707 is 46.6m in length with a wingspan of 44.4m.<\/p>\n

A small team of aviation specialists spent 60 days disassembling the aircraft in Georgia before it was loaded onto the ship<\/a> in the US.<\/p>\n

Qube Ports operations manager Paul Rabbas said removing the plane was a delicate operation.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Rabbas says it has been exciting to be involved in transporting the significant aircraft. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

“We’ve had to put skilled operators on it that we’ve hand-selected to do the discharge, along with the planners to ensure the cargo comes off without any damage and in a safe manner,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We have tidal charts that need to be considered, as well as the length of the cargo and the position of the ramp.”<\/p>\n

Mr Rabbas said it had been a thrill for his workers to be involved with such a historical piece of unusual cargo.<\/p>\n

“It’s great \u2014 a lot of work goes into this, and given it’s going to the local aviation museum, and it’s got a significant positive impact to the community, it’s pretty exciting,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a luxury jet that was once the plaything of Hollywood superstars, this was perhaps a fall from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,11630,11627,11628,8964,11629,11626,2508,1999,304,1217],"class_list":["post-10562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-aviation","tag-boeing-707","tag-hars","tag-history","tag-jet","tag-john-travolta","tag-museum","tag-plane","tag-ship","tag-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}