John Travolta touches down in Spokane the week of his Cannes directorial debut

John Travolta piloted his Boeing 737-300 BBJ from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport to Spokane International Airport early on May 12, covering the roughly 600-mile hop in under two hours at altitudes topping 32,000 feet. The tail number N327JT sliced through the predawn skies, landing just after 5:30 a.m. UTC—a brisk jaunt for a man who keeps a runway in his Florida backyard.

The timing raises eyebrows: Travolta lands in Spokane the same week his directorial debut, the aviation-inspired 'Propeller One-Way Night Coach,' premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, as announced by IndieWire in April. The film, based on Travolta's 1997 children's book, stars a 10-year-old from nearby Coeur d'Alene, Idaho—Clark Shotwell playing a young version of the star himself, per a November 2025 KREM report. Perhaps a quiet nod to local talent before the Riviera spotlight, or just a pilot's detour in familiar skies.

This flight caps a peripatetic stretch for Travolta, who jetted from his Ocala home base via Waco, Texas, to Los Angeles and then San Jose over the prior days. The actor's fleet—from trainers to jumbos—lets him log hours on his terms, underscoring a lifelong passion that blurs Hollywood with cockpit life. Even en route to global acclaim, he flies his own path.