4 Aircraft Owned By Celebrity Pilot John Travolta

Few actors can step off a movie set and into the left seat of an airliner, but John Travolta has done exactly that. He started flying lessons at age 15, years before Hollywood stardom, and today he holds type ratings for the Boeing 707, 737, and 747. They are part of a collection of licenses Travolta holds in 17 aircraft, which also includes an Airbus A380 and a Bombardier Challenger 601.

Travolta's passion shapes his home life too. Travolta lives at Jumbolair Aviation Estates in Ocala, Florida, a fly-in community where runways might as well be car parks, and the main runway is as long as 7,500 feet. His best-known aircraft, a former Qantas Boeing 707, is no longer part of his collection. He gave it to Australia's Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) in 2017 because of maintenance costs and government aviation safety policies. It was disassembled in Georgia and shipped to Australia, where engineers will rebuild it. 

What remains is a lean fleet of three planes, plus a vintage Super Constellation he has just added. That said, here are all of Travolta's aircraft, starting with the one he has praised most and ending with the oldest.

Every fleet needs a workhorse, and for Travolta, it is the Dassault Falcon 900B, registered N905FJ. Built in 1986, the tri-jet is powered by three Honeywell TFE731 engines and is good for a range of about 3,970 nautical miles at a cruise speed of Mach 0.80. It is based at Greystone Airport, the airfield attached to his home, and it burns roughly 300 gallons of fuel an hour.

In an interview with Business Jet Traveler, Travolta says this about the Dassault Falcon, "I have appreciated this one the most, because it just seems like it never fails you. I have had maybe one canceled flight in five years — which is a remarkable thing. It's a beautifully designed plane." He apparently likes the comfort of a third engine and went for it after noticing that major corporations and celebrities such as Taylor Swift had examples. He went on to say that the 900B replaced a Falcon 2000 because the 900 carries five more passengers and flies for two hours longer. 

John Travolta is far from the only star drawn to the Falcon. Apart from Taylor Swift, other celebrities who own a Dassault Falcon 900 include Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg, and Tommy Hilfiger. But unlike the rest, Travolta lists the Falcon 900 among the type ratings he currently holds, so he can fly it himself.

John Travolta's Boeing 737-300, registered N327JT, was first used by British Airways after it left the factory in 1988. The showpiece aircraft, which uses the CFM engine, was then used by three different airlines to carry only economy passengers before being converted to a VIP aircraft by Sands Aviation — a modification that changed the plane's cabin into what Travolta calls "a corporate interior". Travolta got his hands on the plane in February 2022 and qualified to fly it in just one month.

This modified BBJ has 29 seats, trimmed to 19 under Part 91 rules. He values this Boeing because, in his own words via Business Jet Traveler, "it's very dependable, a good choice as far as parts are concerned, maintenance is easily and readily available everywhere in the world". That convenience has a cost at the fuel pump, with the jet burning about 800 gallons per hour. 

The 737 is not the only Boeing Business Jet to catch John Travolta's eye. At the 2022 NBAA convention, he gave a video tour of another BBJ — this one was built in 2010 with a 13-hour range and room for up to 19 passengers. 

At the other end of the scale sits the Eclipse 500, registered N218JT. This very light jet has a range of about 1,125 nautical miles with room for up to six passengers, making it ideal for short trips. It is also based at Greystone and sips fuel compared to Travolta's bigger jets, burning only about 80 gallons an hour. 

Travolta clearly adores it. In his BJT interview, he calls the little jet an "absolute miracle", credits it with a "perfect safety record", and even exaggerates that the jet is like a cheap-to-maintain SUV, emphasizing the Eclipse's practicality. He gives credit to designer Vern Raburn and says nothing else is "as fast and efficient". The Eclipse 500 also appears on his list of current type ratings.

Raburn's name turns up elsewhere in Travolta's hangar history. Travolta once sold his Lockheed Constellation, N494TW, to Raburn for restoration, and that wasn't the last Connie to pass through his hands, as the final aircraft on this list shows.

The newest addition to Travolta's fleet was a unique development for aviation. In September 2024, the actor obtained a Lockheed Super Constellation, registered N6937C. The airliner had been a fixture at Kansas City's Airline History Museum for 39 years. It is powered by four R3350-42 engines rated at 3,250 horsepower each and is one of the last airworthy civilian Super Constellations, though it hasn't been in the air for more than two decades. 

Travolta and this Connie go back decades. In February 2004, it took him to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and in 2007, he was the celebrity guest at a museum fundraiser held beside it. There's also a chance John Travolta might have acquired the Connie to feature in a film he recently released, "Propeller One-Way Night Coach" (his directorial debut, which is based on a novella he wrote about three decades ago), and not to actually fly it. Still, John Travolta lists the Constellation as one of the type ratings he holds, and he also mentioned that he has flown in a SuperConstellation restored by HARS, the organization to which he donated his "beloved" Qantas Boeing 707.