Tiny Houses

Cute office pods give new life to decommissioned airliner fuselages

Cute office pods give new life to decommissioned airliner fuselages
An outside lounge room, eh?
An outside lounge room, eh?
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An outside lounge room, eh?
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An outside lounge room, eh?
Aeropods is turning sections of decommissioned airliner fuselage into cute outdoor office pods
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Aeropods is turning sections of decommissioned airliner fuselage into cute outdoor office pods
A basic fitout could include floors, power, heating and a little front deck
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A basic fitout could include floors, power, heating and a little front deck
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Jet airliners are typically "retired" after around 30 years of service, and while there are many ways to re-use bits of them – such as chopping off their cabin sections to be fitted out as training simulators – many are ignominiously fated to rust away in vast aircraft graveyards, only getting the odd bit of attention when some extreme sports dude comes and does sick motorbike jumps on them.

At this stage, according to CNN, these big birds are being decommissioned at a rate of 700 a year and climbing, so there's definitely plenty of opportunity for reclamation projects like what small startup Aeropods is doing over in the northwest of Ireland.

These guys have been taking high-quality sections of insulated fuselage, and fitting them out as little offices, sheds, playrooms or glamping pods, with double-glazed doors on one end, a wall on the other, a clean, insulated floor, a wooden deck and basically whatever else a client wants inside, like power sockets, heating/air con, color LED mood lighting and the like.

A basic fitout could include floors, power, heating and a little front deck
A basic fitout could include floors, power, heating and a little front deck

They'll build them longer, shorter or with larger or smaller diameters within reason, and they'll ship to anywhere, since these pods are designed to be easily lifted and transported on the back of a truck. Aeropods says this makes them handy as portable outdoor expo stands and pop-up retail operations as well. The exterior can be painted up, or left the way it was painted in service, and washing it down is about the same process as washing a car.

According to CNN, these things sell for between €20,000 and €37,000 (US$22,000 to $56,000). That makes them pricey in the office pod world, but then they're certainly pretty neat conversation starters with some interesting history behind them; not many people can claim their office is better traveled than they are.

Source: Aeropods

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7 comments
7 comments
David F
It certainly makes a change from the fashion for using old cargo containers. How about a small house made from sections of airliner.
Username
Aluminium is one of the most recyclable materials. Why there are graveyards of airplanes is a mystery to me.
Chuck
Great recycling idea!
Uncle Anonymous
OK, I'm impressed. Put a few of these spaced well apart on a rural property by a lake or river. Make sure each one has a small built-in 2 piece washroom, a place to prepare meals and an outdoor shower and you would have a great summer Airbnb.
Trylon
I'd like a two-story home made from the main deck and upper deck of a 747, complete with the spiral staircase.
CAVUMark
Make my tiny home an A380.
vince
If an airplane pod was good enough for michael douglas snd katryn turner on the movie 'romancing the stone' it should be good enough for us all. Of course all that marijuana probably affected their choice of residence.