An aviation enthusiast puts an entire luxury plane cabin inside his apartment in Dubai

- Arun Rajagopal, who lives in Dubai, UAE, and is a huge fan of the Airbus A380, knocked on an ivory-colored door three times before opening it. Inside, there is a leather sofa and smoothly arched ceilings, as well as two open windows that flood the space with sunlight.

For a moment, it looks as if Rajagopal has boarded a plane. But in reality, he is still inside his apartment in Dubai, where in front of him is a carefully recreated space inspired by the ultra-luxury three-room cabin of The Residence on Etihad Airways.

Incorporating part of the cabin into your home may seem like a stretch, but it makes sense for Rajagopal, who is obsessed with airplanes, and specifically the world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, which first entered service in late 2007. The Indian has flown the A380, the only model to feature The Residence cabin, 220 times (with more planned), covering nearly 715,000 miles (more than 1.1 million km) across six continents.

He is also an avid collector, filling his two apartments in Dubai and another apartment in Kochi, India, with carefully selected memorabilia and original parts recovered from A380 aircraft. Moreover, the Indian participated in 45 inaugural A380 flights, traveled on 96 different aircraft of this model, in addition to spending about 60 days of his life on board these giant double-decker aircraft.

“This is probably the greatest passion of my life, it has given me a lot of peace and joy,” Rajagopal said in a video call with Ofoq News. Falling in love with the A380 Rajagopal's passion for transportation began in his childhood, long before the A380 arrived on the scene.

The Indian grew up in the coastal city of Kochi in the south of the country, and from a young age was fascinated by trains, buses, and cargo ships. This curiosity was encouraged by his mother, who regularly sent him on multi-day train trips across India with older relatives.

He also remembers traveling on early flights, most of them domestic flights, before his family moved to Oman when he was nine years old. But when the family faced financial difficulties, Rajagopal stopped traveling for 13 years.

But he gradually returned to flying as he began his career in advertising and digital content writing. Early in his career, Rajagopal worked for Wunderman, where he was involved in projects including rebuilding the Oman Air brand in 2008, he said.

Although today he has become a huge fan of the Airbus A380, his first experience on board this giant plane, during an Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai to London in March 2009, was not impressive. But the turning point came on his fourth trip, which was heading to Singapore. Rajagopal said that this trip amazed him and made him feel as if he was experiencing “a completely new level of comfort.”

Since then, he has been keen to fly on A380 aircraft whenever he has the opportunity. In 2012, Rajagopal began working for Emirates Airlines, where he spent more than eight years in social media, a role that allowed him exceptional proximity to the company's most prominent aircraft during deliveries, inaugural flights and air shows.

Rajagopal left the aviation industry in 2020 to work in communications for the technology company Oracle, and this encouraged him to start collecting aviation-related collectibles. Create an A380 museum at home Today, Rajagopal's one-bedroom apartment in Dubai looks like a private aviation museum.

Its many treasures include two first-class seats that were on board Emirates' first A380 aircraft, as well as a parking brake lever, antennas, seat belts and certificates for the inaugural flights. The A380 wheel was also recycled into a table, while first class cabin lights were placed next to it.

As a collector, Rajagopal prioritizes quality over quantity, and acquires pieces based on their uniqueness, emotional connection to them, and practical functions. Al-Hindi, for example, rejected the A380 wing tip and other parts because they did not meet his standards.

A luxury cabin within an apartment Rajagopal's largest piece includes The Residence cabin from Etihad Airways, which he believes represents "the pinnacle of luxury in the world of commercial aviation." The Indian traveled in this three-room cabin seven times.

When Etihad Airways launched the cabin in 2014, its features exceeded the usual first class standards, as it provided space that included a private living room, a separate double bedroom, and an en suite bathroom. Rajagopal was particularly impressed by the Poltrona Frau leather sofa, so when he first saw the cabin disassembled at the workshop of UAE aircraft recycling company Wings Craft, he initially only wanted the two seats that made up the sofa.

But Wings Craft founder Fawaz Muhammad Ali had a more ambitious idea. “Fawaz was very passionate and had a clear vision,” Rajagopal explained.

He told me: It's better to take the whole cabin. The process was more complicated than just moving the cabin to Rajagopal's apartment, involving a restoration and modification project that took nearly a year.

What is noteworthy is that the cabin is fully functional, as it includes a specially designed 32-inch television, automatic window curtains, USB charging ports, a lighting system, and sliding doors that provide privacy. More than just a number Rajagopal declined to reveal the exact amount he paid for the cabin, but he noted that the cost of this investment was equivalent to the price of a car.

Since he holds an Indian passport (he came in the bottom quarter of the 2026 Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports based on the number of destinations that can be visited without a visa), this means he has to undergo numerous pre-travel procedures that those with more powerful passports may never face. “I did not grow up in an environment of special privilege,” he stressed.

For me, the Airbus A380 has become a symbol of ambition and the power of dreams. For this reason, I feel that my journey to get here has a much deeper meaning than just arriving at the destination itself.”