IRON Maiden's latest tour bus is a jumbo jet.

But fans of the band will be disappointed to know that it won't be landing again in the UK this summer, although the rocks legends will be on their European tour.

A spokesman said: "Over the last four months Iron Maiden, has been flying around the world on their The Book of Souls tour on what is probably the coolest ‘tour bus’ ever – a customised Jumbo Jet, captained by their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, a qualified pilot.

"The new aircraft, called Ed Force One, after the band's mascot, arrived for use by the band at Cardiff Airport on February 17. On arrival the aircraft interior was completely empty of supplies, so the next major job for taff was a three day shopping expedition to stock the aircraft up with almost ten tonnes of day-to-day items to cover the needs of the passengers for the next four months."

The band’s aviation-mad frontman, Bruce Dickinson, took up flying in 1993 and so was keen to take the controls on most of the flight sectors.

He was formerly captain of the (now defunct) UK charter airline Astraeus and launched Cardiff Aviation Ltd in 2012.

The spokesman added: "Bruce loves showing off the aircraft at every opportunity – including giving a guided tour to the crew of Air Force One when the two aircraft were both in Chicago at the same time. He also flew it to Boeing HQ at Paine Field to help them celebrate the manufacturer’s 100th Anniversary and to take a lucky few on a tour.

"His interest shows no bounds, our departure in Perth, Australia, was delayed by half an hour as he was being shown around the largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov AN-225 and he’d often come straight off stage and the first thing he’d ask would be, what’s the fuel uplift tomorrow?”

Iron Maiden last played in the UK at Donnington, in June.