A cozy hostel in converted jumbo in Stockholm

When you exit Stockholm's airport, you'll see a Boeing 747 on your left that looks curiously out of place.

The plane sits idle and lonely on a grass-covered mound just outside the airport perimeter, without any recognizable airline colors. You might think the giant aircraft got lost on the way to the runway and was abandoned here, were it not for the inscription on the side: "Jumbo Hostel."

Turns out this former Pan Am jumbo jet is no longer taking passengers to the skies, but will soon be accommodating them on the ground. Left inactive at Arlanda, Stockholm's main airport, after its last owner went bankrupt, the plane was rescued by a Swedish entrepreneur looking to expand his hostel business.

"I got information about this airplane standing abandoned at Arlanda," says Oscar Dios, who already runs a hostel in Uppsala, about 20 miles north of the airport. "I thought why not try to convert it into a hostel? Since you've been converting boats and lighthouses and trains before into hostels."

Construction crews have been working through the holidays to get the 25 rooms ready for the scheduled opening on Jan. 15. Jumbo Hostel (www.jumbohostel.com) is already taking bookings.

The 65-square-foot rooms are sparsely furnished, with a bunk bed, an overhead luggage compartment and a flat screen TV with entertainment as well as flight information.

Every inch of the 3,800-square-foot floor space is being used. There will be a reception and small cafeteria just inside the front entrance, two rows of rooms on each side of the plane's aisle, and showers and toilets in the rear. The bubble on top is being remodeled into a conference room with first-class flight seats.

And as soon as the guard rails go up, couples will be able to exchange vows on the left wing, receive a small party in the conference room and spend the night in the cockpit, converted into a bridal suite with a private bathroom.

Rates range from $40 (for a bed in a shared four-bed dorm to $170 (for a private room with a twin bed and a single bed. The bridal suite costs $420 per night.

Hostel staff will wear cabin-crew uniforms — what else — and the furniture in the cafeteria will evoke the glory days of air travel. "We're going for the Pan-Am era. A lot of '70s," said project leader Gisela Olsson, holding up an orange seat for the cafeteria chairs.

Built in 1976, the plane first took to the skies with Singapore Airlines before shifting to Pan Am. After Pan Am went belly up in the 1990s, the plane eventually was bought by Swedish leasing company Transjet. When that, too, went bankrupt, the aircraft was left decaying at the airport until Dios came along with a bundle of cash.