Summary
- Iron Maiden used two different Boeing 757s and one Boeing 747 for world tours, chartered to reduce transport costs.
- Frontman Bruce Dickinson, a pilot, flew the aircraft.
- The Boeing 757s returned to Astraeus Airlines post-tour, and one still remains in cargo service with FedEx.
The band Iron Maiden used two Boeing 757 aircraft for its international tours back in the 2000s. The planes carried the band, the backstage team, and all their equipment. They were even flown by the heavy metal stars themselves. One plane was used for the 2008 tour, and another in 2011, although they both returned to passenger service afterward, and one remains in cargo use today.
Why did Iron Maiden use a Boeing 757?
The British rock band Iron Maiden planned a series of world-spanning tours in 2008. However, transporting all the equipment by boat and truck, as well as the crew via plane would be incredibly expensive. Thus, it worked out cheaper to charter an aircraft for the whole tour and keep it for the duration as the equivalent of a tour bus.
By coincidence, Bruce Dickinson, one of the band’s frontmen, was also a captain at the charter airline Astraeus Airlines. This meant he could rent one of the airline’s five Boeing 757-200 planes for the tour. The aircraft selected, tail number G-OJIB, would be dubbed “Ed Force One,” painted in special livery, and flown by Bruce himself.
Mr. Dickinson explained (via the Astraeus Airlines now defunct website):
“As a professional pilot and a professional singer with Iron Maiden, there was no doubt that Astraeus Airlines were the people for the job. The reliability was superb, and the outcome exceeded the band’s wildest expectations. A unique airline, for a unique experience. Astraeus Airlines made it happen!”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Dickinson also said:
“The bean counters said it’s just not worth going to places like India and Costa Rica. Being an aviation bloke, I thought to myself, ‘If you just chucked everything into one airplane you could do an almost European-type itinerary, but an on inter-continental basis.'”
During the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour in 2008, the metal group used the Boeing 757 to travel over 50,000 miles (flying over India, Australia, and North and South America) in only 45 days. They performed 23 shows in 13 countries to around 500,000 fans. Because of this demanding schedule, the Boeing 757 was perfect for the trip. It was converted into a combi-configuration to carry cargo in the main passenger deck.
Photo: Astraeus Airlines
For the next tour, The Final Frontier World Tour in 2011, the band wanted to use the same 757-200 aircraft. However, a last-minute change resulted in a different 757, tail number G-STRX, flying instead. This was similarly converted and equipped to carry the band and the equipment.
What happened to the two Boeing 757s?
After the tours, both of the Boeing 757s went back to Astraeus Airlines – which would, unfortunately, go bankrupt in the winter of 2011. The two aircraft then went to different owners after the airline’s collapse. Information here is based on data from ch-aviation.
- G-OJIB – After its tour, the aircraft would be leased to easyJet, then go on to serve Saudi Arabian Airlines before ending up at Thomas Cook UK (still hired from Astraeus this whole time). When the airline went under, FedEx bought the aircraft and converted it into a cargo plane, which was registered in July 2012. It still flies today. It is pictured below operating for Astraeus in plain white livery.
- G-STRX – The second Boeing 757-200 was leased to Thomson Airways and then to Iceland Express, before being renamed EI-ETR during the airlines’ collapse in 2011. As EI-ETR, it went to International Lease Finance Corporation and it was broken up at Goodyear in July 2012.
Iron Maiden’s Boeing 747 for the 2016 tour
For its next major world tour, the Book of Souls World Tour in 2016, Iron Maiden went even further! It didn’t switch to another type of transport but upgraded to a Boeing 747 for its next tour. This was a bigger tour, and the larger aircraft allowed for more crew, equipment, and even carrying a complete stage set. Bruce Dickinson explained back in 2016:
“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.”
Related
Ed Force One: The Story Of The Iron Maiden Boeing 747 Then And Now
The 19-year-old jumbo jet has certainly had a rock and roll career!
The Boeing 747 was selected in February 2016 and repainted in a special Iron Maiden livery. It was re-registered as TF-AAK at this time. The aircraft used originally flew with Air France from 2003 to 2015, before moving to charter company Air Atlanta Icelandic. The band leased the aircraft from March 2016 to June 2017. After this, it returned to other leasing activities. It was withdrawn from service in April 2022 and has been stored at Kemble in the UK since – sadly waiting to be scrapped.
Did you ever see any of the leased Iron Maiden Boeing aircraft during the tours? What do you think of the practicalities and logistics of hiring aircraft in this way? Let us know in the comments section below.