Stockholm's jumbo jet hostel put up for sale

The world's first jumbo jet hostel at Stockholm Arlanda Airport has been put up for sale just seven months after its opening under the attendant gaze of the world's media.

• Ground control to cockpit suite: a night at the Jumbo Hostel (7 Apr 09)
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"We want to keep the concept alive and need to bring in new backers, and new capital, to develop it," said owner Oscar Diös to The Local on Wednesday.

When the hostel, housed in a de-commissioned Boeing 747 parked at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, opened in January 2009 it captured the imagination of people across the world and gained significant media coverage.

The adventure of staying in one of the hostel's 24 rooms appealed both to the imagination and to the more utilitarian side of established Uppsala hotelier Diös.

"It was great as it combined our need for airport accommodation with that of finding a use for the plane," he told The Local prior to the grand opening.

But with the combined pressures of running a hotel in Uppsala and being a family father, Diös needs to free up more time to dedicate to developing the concept.

"Whether we sell it, bring in a partner or develop some sort of franchise arrangement, they are all possibilities," Diös said, while declining to put a price on any of the alternatives.

Diös told The Local that there are several interested parties both for the Arlanda hostel, and also for prospective venues for further jumbo jet hostels.