This is the newest tourist attraction in Abha – a Saudia Airlines 747 that is being made into a restaurant with a seating capacity of 800.

One of the tour participants had actually seen it being transported in pieces from Madinah, and she showed me some pictures she had taken of it. She said although the townspeople were complaining about the traffic jams it caused, everybody was out to watch.

According to a story in Arab News, the 747 was ferried by a fleet of 95 trucks; they could travel no more than 100 kilometers a day, and the wheels of several trucks wore out because of the sheer weight. I have no idea how they got up the mountains with that heavy load, because Abha is situated 2,200 meters above sea level.

The plane restaurant was the brainchild of the mayor of Asir, who is certain it will be a huge success. Saudia turned ownership of the aircraft over to the municipality, and a tender will be held for operation of the restaurant.

The story is here http://www.arabnews.com/news/544566?quicktabs_stat2=0 along with a picture of it being transported, which I considered posting here but it doesn’t belong to me so won’t.