The group has revealed nine U.S. dates that begin on February 24th in Ft Lauderdale, FL at the BB&T Center and conclude April 15th in Los Angeles at The Forum. The Raven Age will be the support act for the tour and Maiden also announced that they will be revealing Canadian dates soon.

The band will once again be launching the tour onboard a plane piloted by frontman Bruce Dickinson. The new 'Ed Force One' for the 2016 trek will be Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet.

Dickinson had the following to say about the new dates, "We cannot wait to get back out on tour. Maiden thrive on touring and getting out to our fans, it's also what we enjoy the most. When we play in Fort Lauderdale it will be 19 months since our last show at Sonisphere in the UK so we will be raring to go.

"On previous Ed Force One Tours we only had time to play New York, LA and Florida. For the world tour next year we've made more time in order to take Ed Force One to our fans in many more parts of the country, like Tulsa where we haven't played since 1987 on the Somewhere In Time Tour and Tacoma where we haven't played in 15 years, along with Vegas, Detroit, Chicago and Denver too this time round. We wanted to start off in Ft Lauderdale so we could first visit Nicko's 'Rock 'n Roll Ribs' nearby and have a few Trooper beers to celebrate the start of The Book of Souls World Tour! We will of course visit Canada too and those dates will be announced very soon!

"We haven't decided on the set list as yet and won't until we start rehearsing but we really look forward to playing a number of new songs live, especially as the recording was so much live. However, as it's been a while since we saw you all, I am sure we will include plenty of older fan favourites too. I think the fans will be delighted by what we have in mind. We are also in the middle of creating the new show and rest assured we are working hard to bring you all something spectacular, something with a lot of heart !!! You certainly deserve it for your patience."