Boeing 747 is being converted to Jumbo Hostel

The plane sits idle and lonely on a grass-covered mound outside the airport perimeter, without any recognizable airline colors.

You might think the giant aircraft got lost on the way to the runway and was abandoned here, were it not for the inscription on the side: Jumbo Hostel.

Turns out this former Pan Am jumbo jet is no longer taking passengers into the sky, but soon will be accommodating them on the ground. Left inactive at Arlanda, Stockholm’s main airport, after its last owner went bankrupt, the plane was rescued by a Swedish entrepreneur looking to expand his hostel business.

"I got information about this airplane standing abandoned at Arlanda,” says Oscar Dios, who runs a hostel in Uppsala, about 20 miles north of Arlanda. "I thought why not try to convert it into a hostel? Since you’ve been converting boats and light houses and trains before into hostels.”

Construction crews are working through the holidays to get the 25 rooms ready for the scheduled opening Jan. 15. Jumbo Hostel already is taking bookings.

The 65-square-foot rooms are Spartanly furnished, with a bunk bed, an overhead luggage compartment and a flat screen TV with entertainment as well as flight information.

Every inch of the 3,800-square-foot floor space is being used. There will be a reception and cafeteria just inside the front entrance, two rows of rooms on each side of the aisle, and showers and toilets in the rear. The bubble on top is being remodeled into a conference room with first-class flight seats.

Dios is hoping for a diverse clientele, including taxi drivers stopping for a coffee break at the cafeteria, business travelers needing accommodation close to Arlanda and even wedding parties looking for an unusual ceremony.

As soon as the guard rails come up, couples will be able to exchange vows on the left wing, receive a small party in the conference room and spend the night in the cockpit, converted into a bridal suite with a private bathroom.

Rates range from $40 (300 kronor) for a bed in a shared four-bed dormitory to $170 (1,350 kronor) for a private room with a twin bed and a single bed. The bridal suite costs $420 (3,300 kronor) per night.

Dios says his idea of aircraft lodging is unprecedented: "That’s what we’ve heard so far. Smaller planes have been turned into restaurants, but never a 747 into a hostel.”

While emphasizing comfort, he’s added details in the interior decor to remind guests "that they’re actually inside an aircraft.”

When you wake up, you’ll see the soft curvature of the ceiling, and, through the row of windows, the tail fins of operational aircraft parked at their gates at Arlanda.

Hostel staff will wear cabin crew uniforms, and the furniture in the cafeteria will evoke the glory days of air travel.

"We’re going for the PanAm era. A lot of ’70s,” says project leader Gisela Olsson, holding up an orange seat for the cafeteria chairs.

Built in 1976, the plane — now named Liv after Dios’ daughter — first took to the sky with Singapore Airlines before shifting to Pan Am for about 10 years.

After that airline went belly-up in the 1990s, the jet flew under a variety of colors until being bought by Swedish leasing company Transjet. When that, too, went bankrupt, it was left decaying at Arlanda until Dios came along. It remains to be seen whether his idea will take off among air travelers.