Holy Smoke - Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson lands new airline job

Bruce Dickinson is better known for belting out Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter, Die With Your Boots On and Holy Smoke.

So who better to become head of marketing at an airline business than the Iron Maiden frontman known as The Air-Raid Siren?

Mr Dickinson, 51, has landed the job at the Gatwick-based Astraeus Airlines, which leases planes and crews to carriers including British Airways, Bmi and easyJet.

He is already well known to Astraeus. Between gigs, Mr Dickinson flies its aircraft – running up 7,000 hours on Boeing 737 and 757 jets.

His pilot duties include ferrying around the other members of the heavy metal band while on tour. Last year's circuit saw Iron Maiden play in 38 countries before almost 2m fans. The tour DVD had the ominous title Flight 666.

Mr Dickinson, who will continue flying and was said to be in the skies over Damascus yesterday, characterised his new job in a statement as "an ambassador role".

"This isn't about appointing ad agencies or anything like that," he said, adding that his prime aim was to deliver "the Astraeus message and business proposition directly to what is a relatively tight and targeted audience of people and decision-makers in aviation".

His appointment is planned to free up more time for Shaun Monnery, Astraeus's chief commercial officer. The Icelandic-owned company said he was dealing with a year-on-year trebling of the order book.

Astraeus is a subsidiary of Eignarhaldsfelagid Fengur, which also owns low-fare carrier Iceland Express, a carrier that flew through the Icelandic crisis.

Mr Dickinson, who has described "singing with Iron Maiden and flying a jet airliner" as "the two best jobs in the world", is not an everyday rock star. "I loathe all the celebrity ----. All the minders, the backstage glamour and the glitzy --------", he said last month.

By contrast, he found that being in the cockpit of a 757 brought respite from his frenetic life as lead singer of a band that has sold 100m albums worldwide.

"It's just you, the airplane and the sky. It's quite a nice little zen moment," he said.

References to flying turn up in songs including Flight of Icarus and Where Eagles Dare. But Women in Uniform, who "feel so warm", might add some glamour to Astraeus' marketing literature.

"Coming back to London on a 747/Stewardesses made me feel like I'm in heaven" is how Mr Dickinson puts it, suggestively, in the song.