A McDonald’s in New Zealand lets diners eat inside a decommissioned airplane

• Taupo, New Zealand, is home to a McDonald’s that has a dining room inside of a decommissioned Douglas DC-3 plane.
• The dining room can fit 20 diners at 10 tables.
• It topped the Daily Meal’s list of the world’s coolest McDonald’s in 2013 and has gotten a lot of publicity ever since.
• “Our locals are very proud of it,” McDonald’s owner Eileen Byrne told Insider of the restaurant. “It has become a landmark here in New Zealand.”
• Restaurants reopened in New Zealand in mid-May, after three consecutive days without new cases of COVID-19 being reported.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Airplane food takes on a slightly different meaning in Taupo, New Zealand.

That’s because the small resort town on the North Island is home to one of the world’s most unique McDonald’s restaurants, which happens to be attached to a decommissioned airplane.

While you can’t order your food from the old Douglas DC-3 – the counters are located in the McDonald’s next door – 20 diners can eat their Big Macs inside the jet, which still features its original cockpit behind a glass door.

The plane, emblazoned with the McDonald’s logo on its exterior, has sat in its current spot for over 30 years. It used to advertise a car dealership, the Aeroplane Car Company, but was purchased by McDonald’s in 1990 and made part of that location.

Eileen Byrne and her husband Des have owned this McDonald’s since 2000, and have been franchisees since 1995. She says they were “thrilled” when they found themselves topping the Daily Meal’s list of the world’s coolest McDonald’s in 2013, and that the location has since become a huge tourist attraction.

According to NPR, most businesses, including restaurants, reopened in New Zealand in mid-May.

Keep scrolling for a look inside.

“We got a lot of publicity from all over the world and our locals are very proud of it. It has become a landmark here in New Zealand,” McDonald’s owner Eileen Byrne told Insider of the restaurant, which has its dining room inside a Douglas DC-3 plane.

She said that she and her husband, Des, added an Instagram-worthy area beneath the nose of the plane so that visitors can take photos.

“Believe me, it is a constant sight,” Byrne said of tourists lining up for a photo. Byrne said that the plane has also been featured in various travel brochures, a Japanese tourism video, and on Chinese TV.

According to Byrne, the plane was built in California in 1943 but began its working life as a passenger jet in Australia until 1961. She said it was then used for the New Zealand Post Office and had a few other roles, but was retired in 1984 after clocking 56,282 flying hours.

Most of the plane has been left as it was, save for the removal of its engines, the addition of the Golden Arches, and 10 two-top tables. A storyboard by the cockpit shares the plane’s colorful history.

The unique dining room can be accessed using a stairway near the plane’s tail, leading from a playground for kids.

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