Iron Maiden have announced a world tour that will see them play across six continents travelling in a Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet captained and piloted by Bruce Dickinson.

For The Book Of Souls World Tour the band will travel over 55,000 miles around the globe visiting 35 countries including their first ever shows in China and El Salvador. The tour is set to support the release of their new studio album The Book Of Souls which is out on September 4 and marks their first album release in five years.

Dickinson is currently in training for his licence to fly the huge four engine jet, which is twice the size and over three times the weight of the Boeing 757 that he piloted on the band’s previous tours in 2008, 2009 and 2011. It will take the band, crew and over 12 tons of equipment around the world. Exact dates are set to be revealed in a few weeks time but the tour will kick off in the US in late February and then travel on to Central America for shows in Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica, before moving on to South America and then returning to North America in March and April. Asia, Australasia and Africa will follow in that order before the band round things up in Europe for an extensive run of shows that will begin in late May and finish up in early August.

Of the plans to pilot the huge jet for the tour, Dickinson said: “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.

“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.” You can read our recent Iron Maiden interview here.