Inside unbelievable abandoned Lockheed plane in Africa where you must pay for a peek
Published on Jan 31, 2026 at 8:52 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Jan 29, 2026 at 8:17 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
This man took a look inside an abandoned Lockheed plane in Africa, where you need to pay to get a look inside.
Davud Akhundzada took his followers on an inside tour of the plane, which was stranded in the middle of Cotonou in the Benin Republic, West Africa.
It was certainly an unusual landmark, and it didn’t come for free either.
But it’d be totally worthwhile.
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Inside this abandoned Lockheed plane
When Davud arrived at this plane, he was told by the woman outside that he would need to pay 1,000 in West African CFA Franc ($1.83 US dollars).
But in the spirit of generosity, he gave her additional money, taking her up to 3,000 CFA Franc ($5.40).
It took a bit of haggling, as the prices varied depending on how long you wanted to be inside the plane.
In the end, he paid the woman an additional 5,000 CFA Franc ($9.14).
With a ticket in tow, he boarded the abandoned plane, which was a Lockheed L-1011 to be exact.
Davud passed through the plane, filming the cockpit and the rest of the plane’s interior.
It looked exactly how you’d expect an abandoned plane in a desert to look – aged and unused.
To be fair, it was hardly in a state of total disrepair – the seats had held up quite nicely.
And compared to some of the abandoned houses we’ve seen, it was positively homely.
There was something eerie about it, though, as this plane was essentially a time capsule with wings.
Not that it was getting much flying done these days.
You may be wondering how this plane ended up here.
After all, what could be more mysterious than a deserted plane? That was certainly the case with these abandoned Boeing 737s in Bali.
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How this plane ended up in the desert
Over on the blog Live And Lets Fly, writer Matthew Klint paid a visit to the plane and gave a detailed rundown of its backstory.
A gold placard onboard the plane stated that the L-1011 had belonged to Air Rum Ltd. of Sierra Leone.
The plane had been built all the way back in 1975.
It was originally delivered to Japan’s All Nippon Airways, where it first flew in 1978.
The Lockheed plane was sold to Rich International Airways in 1996, to Kampuchea Airlines in 2001, and finally, Air Rum in 2008.
Air Rum has a controversial history, as the now-dismantled airline once faked a fuel starvation emergency back in 2005, as reported by BBC News.
But how exactly did this particular plane end up on a beach in the Benin Republic?
Well, back in 2008, when Air Rum closed up shop, its fleet of planes was scattered around various airports.
This particular plane had been sitting at an airport in Contonou.
It sat there until 2015, when a local businessman bought it and towed it 400 meters to the beach, Airline Reporter revealed.
The plan had been for it to be turned into a restaurant – a common fate for disused airplanes around the world.
However, as Davud’s video and other blogs have shown, this plan hasn’t come to fruition.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
