For nearly a decade, the Boeing 727 owned by Jeffrey Epstein has sat motionless on an outdoor slab in Brunswick, Georgia—its once-polished fuselage covered in grime, its engines removed, and its interior frozen in a kind of unsettling time capsule.The 133-foot-long jet was nicknamed the “Lolita Express” by the media, a moniker not used in official aviation records but widely linked to the plane in court documents and media reports. Federal prosecutors described the 133-foot jet as a vehicle used to shuttle young victims between Epstein’s properties. Over the years, flight logs have documented a series of high-profile passengers, from former US President Bill Clinton to the now-disgraced former British Prince Andrew. And, according to a New York Post reporter who got a rare tour of the ship, the interior remains eerily intact, slowly rotting in the Georgia humidity.
A jet built for power and privacy
The nearly 60-year-old Boeing 727 was acquired in January 2001 by JEGE Inc., a Delaware-based company with ties to Epstein and named in court proceedings. Aviation records show Epstein retained ownership for nearly two decades. The aircraft’s tail number, N908JE (the last two letters are widely believed to refer to his initials), appears on the fuselage and on monogrammed items in the cabin. Napkins stamped “N909JE,” the tail number of another plane linked to Epstein, were reportedly found in other bathroom cabinets.
According to the plane’s name history/pictures, Epstein had owned the plane for nearly 20 years when he quietly sold it in December 2018, just months before his arrest and subsequent suicide
The aircraft’s last recorded flight occurred on July 11, 2016, from Palm Beach International Airport to Brunswick King Islands Airport. Soon after, its three engines were dismantled and sold. With no engine and its registration expired as of 2019, it can no longer fly legally or mechanically. In December 2018, months before his July 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Epstein quietly sold the plane to Florida-based World Air Services LLC, according to ownership history. The company’s boss later told reporters that the initial purpose of purchasing the aircraft was to sell or recycle parts. After learning of its connection to Epstein’s crimes, the owners decided to demolish it. In July 2024, the aircraft reportedly changed hands again, being purchased by Jet Assets Incorporated, a Laramie, Wyoming-based company about which there is little public information. Individuals associated with the company have not commented publicly. Although originally planned for dismantling, the aircraft remains intact at Stambaugh Aviation, incurring an estimated $1,000 per month in storage fees that have increased by tens of thousands of dollars over the years.
The remnant of the cockpit/ Image: NY Post
“It’s in a significantly degraded condition, it’s sat there for 10 years, it has no engines…any airplane in that degraded of a condition would never fly again,” Scott Stambaugh, who owns the aviation facility, told the New York Post, describing any attempt at restoration as “monumental” and prohibitively expensive. From the outside, the once-pristine white body is now streaked dark grey, weathered by southern humidity. The aircraft is parked between planes formerly owned by actor John Travolta and fashion executive Peter Nygard, an uncomfortable proximity given the controversies attached to both men.
A decaying interior frozen in time
Entering via the rear staircase, reportedly left open, visitors are met with what one New York Post reporter described as a “nose-curdling musty stench”, intensified by near-total darkness. The aircraft has been without power since 2016. Inside, the jet’s layout remains visible: a bedroom, three separate sitting areas, two bathrooms and a galley kitchen. The finishes, polished wood, high-pile carpeting, mirrored walls and upholstered seating, were once designed to evoke exclusivity. Today, insects and mildew coat much of the interior. In the main bathroom, reporters found Johnson’s-brand baby lotion and baby powder tucked into cabinets, alongside toiletries, monogrammed napkins and paper towels marked with the aircraft’s tail number. Mouldy shaving cream cans, used toothbrushes and orange-and-yellow hair ties lay scattered among dirty towels.
Image: Youtube NY Post
In the lone bedroom, where victims including Virginia Giuffre have alleged abuse took place, a king-sized mattress remained neatly made beneath a white comforter. Three emergency oxygen masks dangled overhead. Nearby, a nightstand drawer contained what was described as a disassembled satellite phone. In the cockpit, a black landline handset with its cord ripped from the wall had been shoved into a drawer. A yellow emergency beacon labelled “N908JE” sat with expired registration papers.
Image: NY Post
Other remnants include stacked black-and-white linen placemats in the galley, empty water bottles, an instant coffee tin, binders filled with flight manuals and aviation documents, and closets still stocked with books and files. The décor in parts of the cabin is striking. One sitting room is upholstered almost entirely in red crushed velvet, covering walls, couch and armchairs, punctuated by a single contrasting chair and red table. Another lounge area features two grey half-moon couches facing one another before the galley. A final seating space near the cockpit includes mirrored walls, plush benches and a long wooden table. The jet once ferried politicians, business figures and celebrities. Old photographs show Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell aboard; another widely circulated image shows Clinton seated in one of the red chairs with an unidentified woman on his lap. None of those images have been tied to proven criminal conduct by the individuals pictured.
Bill Clinton flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s jet for Clinton Foundation trips, later saying he knew nothing of crimes./ Image: DOJ
Prosecutors, however, have stated in court filings that Epstein used the aircraft to transport victims between properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico and his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
A wider investigation and lingering questions
Epstein died in federal custody in August 2019, officially ruled a suicide by hanging. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was later convicted of sex trafficking offences and is serving a prison sentence. The aircraft remains a physical artefact of that network. In the United Kingdom, Essex Police have said they are reviewing information emerging from released case files suggesting that Epstein arranged private flights into and out of Stansted Airport, allegedly to transport girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. Former British prime minister Gordon Brown write Documents show the plane flew 90 flights to and from British airports, including 15 after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from minors in 2008, the New Statesman reported. Brown also claimed Epstein “boasted” about Stansted Airport’s low charges and described it as a connecting point between planes.
Essex Police confirmed they were assessing “information relating to private flights to and from Stansted Airport”. Meanwhile, the planes themselves remain grounded, both physically and figuratively. The owner of Stambaugh Aviation said the plane was originally planned to be “chopped up” and scrapped. These plans never came to fruition. Instead, the 727 was exposed to heat, moisture and corrosion, and its once luxurious interior slowly rotted away.
