PARIS -- U.S. film star John Travolta flew a Boeing 707 airliner into Paris's Le Bourget Airport late Monday on the latest leg of a 10-nation, 13-city "Spirit of Friendship" tour, airport sources said.

Travolta, who has been a pilot for 32 years and has eight jet licenses, has been made an "ambassador-at-large" by Australian flag-carrier Qantas in a high-profile public relations exercise in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. which hurt the aviation industry worldwide, AFP reported.

In Washington earlier Monday, U.S. Airways became the first major U.S. carrier to file for bankruptcy protection since the September 11 hijackings frightened millions of passengers out of the skies.

Travolta's 64,700-kilometer (35,000-mile) tour aboard his own Boeing 707, which Qantas used to own, began in Los Angeles and the itinerary included stops in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt before ending up in New York.

The star of such hit films as ***"Saturday Night Fever," "Grease"*** and ***"Pulp Fiction"*** successfully completed a flight simulator training in Sydney and in the U.S. city of Seattle to become a first officer on the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet aircraft.

To mark his marathon trip, Travolta, 48, had his Boeing 707, named "Jett Clipper Ella" after his two children, repainted in its original Qantas 1960s branding and livery.

Qantas, established in the Australian outback in 1920, is the world's second oldest airline.