A Look Inside John Travolta's Airport Mansion

everyone needs a hobby and for john travolta it's flying planes as such the trained pilot has a large collection of jets good thing he has an estimated net worth of around 250 million dollars to fund this pleasure looking to make his hobby more accessible he ended up buying a mansion that contains its own airport today we're going to look at this incredible house and the gated community it sits on we'll see just how valuable both are on top of this we'll examine some of the airplanes in travolta's hangar and the stories behind them all of which are worth many millions so let's get started john travolta's florida home is based at the estate of jumbo lair airport near the city of ocala the whole area is 550 acres in size for comparison that can fit five vatican cities since it's around 110 acres in 2019 the average cost of an acre in florida was 28 961. however this takes into account expensive land costs in cities such as miami as well as cheaper rural areas as such with this average the jumbo layer airport land has a valuation of just under 16 million the biggest selling point of this exclusive gated community is to allow aviation fans easy access to a private airport the main runway is 7550 feet long paved and lighted making it america's longest private runway it's even able to accommodate large airplanes such as the boeing 737 all of the 38 residential lots are fly-ins so they have access to the large airstrip via smaller taxiways back in 1980 the estate was a ranch that was owned by socialite and equestrian muriel vanderbilt then along came the founder of fitness company nautilus arthur jones who purchased the area he soon began incorporating his love of aviation to the estate according to reports the massive airstrip is said to have cost around 6 million to create in 1984 the property even became a haven for african wildlife elephants crocodiles gorillas and more all called it home for a time by 1989 arthur jones divorced from his wife terry she then began turning the estate into the flying community that it is today in 2019 news broke that the whole area was going on the market on top of the 550 acres the package deal included the five bedroom 7686 square foot mansion that was created for muriel vanderbilt it has a swimming pool and a fitness center filled with original nautilus equipment also in the deal is an 8735 square foot conference center or banquet hall that has a seating space for 400 people a collection of warehouses that amounts to 90 000 square feet as well as at the time 17 unsold estate lots with runway access and 30 income producing residential lots all of this had an original asking price of 10.5 million dollars travolta and his late wife kelly preston were one of the first residents to buy in at the jumbo lair airport estate back in 2001. for eight years travolta had been looking for a place that could easily cope with his planes in the end the couple purchased around 9.5 acres altogether this is reported to have cost them 3.5 million dollars at the time with inflation that's around 5.2 million today soon after travolta and preston got to work on building an 8 900 square foot mansion travolta then had the taxiway extended right to his front door the taxiway splits into two roads around the property both of which lead to separate parking bays for planes in an article with architectural digest in 2004 preston stated quote it was always john's dream to have planes in his front yard to practically be able to pull up to the house so that when you wanted to go to dinner all you'd have to do was step out the door get on a plane and whisk off end quote the house was designed to allow views of their parked planes no matter what room of the house they're standing in as such the property is formed of concrete and a lot of glass the house has six bedrooms all together and two kitchens one kitchen for more serious cooking and the other for lighter simpler concoctions these kitchens are then surrounded by three dining areas the house was designed by architects dana smith and took two years to fully construct outside there's an in-ground swimming pool with a hot tub attached according to experts adding a hot tub during construction of the pool can add an extra ten thousand dollars near the pool is a cabana built specifically for the adults travolta wanted to use it as a dancing space so there's a large area that can be cleared off for such a thing there's also a bar with seating travolta describes it as a cabana however since it has permanent walls it could be a pool house according to experts a cabana can cost up to five thousand dollars to build while a pool house can be as much as one hundred and eighty thousand dollars the mansion is said to even have a golf course on average it can cost between five thousand and ten thousand dollars per hole for smaller courses the house also has space for 16 cars altogether john travolta has owned loads of planes throughout his flight passion one of his most famous is the boeing 707 138b the original 707 model had a cost of 4.3 million dollars in 1955. today that's around 42.2 million dollars travolta's plane was previously operated by australian airliner qantas from 1964. by 1968 it was converted from being a passenger plane for private use according to reports it was even owned by legendary rat pack member frank sinatra by 1998 the plane ended up with travolta during 2002 travolta even became a goodwill ambassador for qantas as part of this relationship qantas would maintain the plane for him as he flew their brand across the globe originally the jet could hold around 140 passengers travolta changed the interior to make it more luxurious as such there's space for 25 people traveling on board other features include a master bedroom with an ensuite a kitchen a dining room and a living room during 2017 it was announced that travolta was donating his jet to the historical aircraft restoration society in australia it was originally believed that the trip to get the plane to the museum was going to cost 3 million australian dollars which is about 2.3 million american dollars another plane in the greece actors arsenal is the bombardier challenger 601 it was first announced that he bought this plane in 2011. at the time this made it his 11th jet travolta also became an ambassador for the canadian plane manufacturers bombardier in that same year during an interview with business jet traveler travolta was asked what attracted him to this model he replied quote it uses canada air technology which has evolved to an extraordinary degree since the 1970s end quote he also said that as he travels with his family regularly a plane needs to be comfortable in the cabin according to reports a bombardier challenger 601 can cost as much as 21.4 million dollars to purchase as for renting the 601 can cost up to 6 800 per hour according to some charter sites one of travolta's most famous planes was the gulfstream ii it's well known due to a near terrible accident almost three decades ago in 1992 travolta was flying the jet at 400 miles per hour during the night from florida to maine but disaster struck just above the washington skies twelve thousand feet up the gulf stream two suffered complete electrical failure with no radio working air traffic control couldn't speak to travolta as he fought to pilot the plane air control requested a commercial plane nearby with 182 passengers to see if they could spot the falling plane by then the two planes only missed each other by two miles trivolta managed to land the jet with no injuries at the time the gulf stream 2 was worth around 5 million in 2012 travolta decided to donate the fabled gulf stream to the georgia aviation hall of fame travolta did this in memory of his son jed whom he lost in 2009 final fun fact finish 2019 saw the opening of one of the most expensive airports of all time the beijing daxing international airport in china construction costs alone amounted to 120 billion chinese yuan which is around 18.3 billion american dollars on top of that various projects in and around the airport came to 330 billion yuan or around 50.4 billion u.s dollars giving us a grand total of 450 billion yuan or 68.7 billion dollars

Channel: TheRichest

Views: 5,287,857

Keywords: Boeing 707, Bombardier Challenger, Daxing Airport, Facts Features, Florida House, For Sale, Frank Sinatra, Gulfstream Jet, John Travolta, Jumbolair Airport, Most Expensive, Net Worth, Private Jets, Qantas Airline, Worth Millions

Id: nzciMt4roiY

Length: 8min 53sec (533 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021