Iron Maiden, whose new studio album The Book of Souls, their first for five years, will be released worldwide next week on September 4, are taking touring to a new level using a Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet (aka Queen of the Skies) for their world tour next year.

Vocalist Bruce Dickinson is currently in training for his licence to fly the massive four engine jet, which is almost twice the size and over three times the weight of the Boeing 757 used on previous tours in 2008/9/11.

The new Ed Force One will take the band, crew and over 12 tons of equipment more than 55,000 miles (88,500km) around the planet with concerts in six of the seven continents (Australasia, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Europe) with The Book of Souls World Tour 2016 expected to visit around 35 countries.

Details of the precise schedule are currently being finalised, but one thing already confirmed is that The Book Of Souls World Tour will open in the United States in late February with Ed Force One flying in for three shows before, in early March, heading into Central America (Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica), and South America (Argentina, Chile, Brazil).

At the end of March the band flies back to the USA for a series of shows across the country, before heading to Canada, Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Europe. T

Says Bruce Dickinson: “When the opportunity arose from my friends at Air Atlanta Icelandic to lease a 747 for The Book of Souls World Tour, of course we jumped at the chance, who wouldn’t?

“The greatest benefit of travelling in a 747 is that because of its colossal size and freight capacity we can carry our stage production and all our stage equipment and desks in the cargo hold without having to make any of the immense structural modifications needed to do this on the previous 757, the extent of which fans will have noted on the Flight 666 DVD.

“Although in reality we cannot carry much more gear the savings in complexity, time and cost make using the 747 even more practical. All we will need to do is “paint” it and move a few seats around, with the added advantage that there is much more room for band and crew – our Krew can almost get a row of seats each to catch up on sleep on the flights!

“Furthermore, it is marginally faster o.85 MACH and the range of around 7000NM (13,000 km) is much greater which means we will not have to make the refuelling stops we needed to with the 757.

“However, even though we have worked out the logistics of taking a plane of that immense size out on tour, I still have to learn to fly it before we can go anywhere! So, I’m currently doing my training to qualify as a pilot and Captain on a Boeing 747.

“I’m doing this at Cardiff Aviation, my aircraft maintenance facility in Wales, where we recently took possession of a rather splendid 747 simulator which I can’t wait to get practising on!

“We’re all really excited at the thought of bringing our brand new tour to fans who have never seen us play live before, and of course re-visiting all our old friends again too. You can rest assured we are all working hard to put together a spectacular show for our fans.”

The Book Of Souls is Maiden’s 16th, and first ever, double studio album. For more information got to www.ironmaiden.com