Exactly two years ago, in January 2022, AEROIN presented the controversy generated by an entrepreneur after placing, in September 2021, an airplane on the edge of a cliff to become a tourist attraction.
At that moment, various media outlets in Indonesia and around the world reported the placement of the Boeing 737 aircraft at a location with a high view of Nyang Nyang Beach in southern Bali.
As described by the detik travel portal, Felix Demin, a Russian entrepreneur residing in Bali, purchased the airplane from a scrapyard in China and divided it into several parts for transportation and reassembly on the cliff in Indonesia.
After shipping, a team of workers took a week to reassemble the airplane at the designated location, to be transformed into a luxury accommodation. And thus, the controversy arose.
Bali’s zoning rules stipulated that constructions on an oceanic cliff or riverbank should be located at least as far from the edge as the height of the corresponding cliff face, which definitely did not happen with the Boeing 737.
Demin claimed to have the necessary authorizations and licenses to assemble and operate the Boeing fuselage as an accommodation site. According to the local portal, Demin’s claims of legality seemed to be endorsed by the silence of the provincial zoning officials, faced with the widely publicized «landing» of the airplane in a location that would stand out in one of the island’s most beautiful maritime landscapes.
The entrepreneur defended the project on the grounds that the presence of the airplane would help revitalize Bali’s tourism industry, which had been in crisis since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic that hit the country in late 2019.
Less silent, however, was the critical response on social media, which saw the airplane as a monstrosity that would only harm Bali’s global image. The public awaited more details about the proposed use of the aircraft on the cliff of Nyang Nyang Beach, while deciding whether the project would become Bali’s newest «attraction» or «distraction.»
And now, the incredible result shows that, regardless of the criticisms, the project was indeed carried out and is already beginning to stand out in photos and videos on social media worldwide. Even a wedding ceremony has already been held at the site in early 2024.
Below, you can see a sequence of photos and videos of this unique tourist accommodation option:
