When you hear about a commercial Boeing aircraft being sold for cheap, you’re sure to expect some caveats. That much is true involving a Boeing abandoned at El Paso International Airport (ELP) for over 20 years.
Before the Boeing 727 ended up in El Paso, Texas, it was first owned by the U.S. Marshals Service. Here’s the story about the abandoned Boeing jet and what the new owner is considering doing with it.
Under the El Paso Sun
Boeing started production of the 727 in the early 1960s. The aircraft was more suited for smaller airports and had a unique feature: a set of stairs that opened from the rear underbelly. The 727s could carry up to 129 passengers and fly up to 2,590 miles on a tank of gas.
While this particular 727 was made in 1966 for Lufthansa, it was eventually owned by the U.S. Marshals Service. Designated for the Service’s Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, or ‘Con Air’ system, officials used the jet to transport prisoners over long distances. The program opened in 1995.
Records reveal the jet was acquired by the Blue Falcon Corporation (BFC) in July 2005 during a government auction. BFC President David Tokoph was also the co-founder of Aero Zambia and Interair South Africa with his brother Gary and holds the distinction of being the first and only pilot to fly from Russia directly to El Paso.
No records indicate that Tokoph or one of his businesses had ever used the aircraft. To public knowledge, Tokoph had the Boeing grounded at El Paso Airport and was paying to leave it there indefinitely.
On 14 August 2015, Tokoph was involved in a horrific crash piloting a vintage Navy airplane near Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico. He was transported via helicopter to University Medical Center in El Paso but died four days later. He was 64.
El Paso Passes Ownership of the Boeing 727
Due to Tokoph’s death, the El Paso airport stopped receiving payments to keep the Boeing 727 on its property. The City of El Paso commenced legal proceedings in 2021 to take ownership of the jet as abandoned property.
During that time, airport employees gutted the jet for parts. The city then decided to auction the plane off online in 2022, with the auction finally getting underway in December 2024.
The auction explicitly stated that the Boeing was inoperable and required more money than it was worth to refurbish. The initial bid on 16 December 2024 was only $1,000. Fifty-five additional bids were received before the auction closed on 6 January 2025.
The winning bidder was a local educator and entrepreneur named Ismael Lara, 40. He and his brother John paid $10,132, including taxes, to own the jet.
The Sky’s The Limit For the Boeing’s New Life
While the City of El Paso ordered the plane off the lot by February, it was reportedly still there in March when Lara went with El Paso Matters to take a closer look at it.
El Paso International Airport Director Tony Nevarez shared his thoughts on the sale of the Boeing to the local residents.
‘I’m kind of excited to see what the new owner does with it…Retired aircraft like this one often get turned into homes, bars, or even other creative spaces.‘
Lara, however, has been indecisive on what to do with the Boeing since purchasing it:
‘I have a ton of ideas, but at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to how much is it going to cost?’ Lara said.
Lara acknowledged that his followers also gave him many suggestions on social media.
The Lara brothers own some land on Red Sands in East El Paso, where they intend to move the Boeing. However, they could spend up to $250,000 — almost 25 times the cost at auction — to haul the plane out of the airport.
