Browsing Tag: Air New Zealand

In the darkness of night, the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner rolled out of the factory in Everett, WA yesterday. Although the 787-9 will first sport a Boeing livery during testing, it will soon be painted into one of two of Air New Zealand’s new liveries, since they will later take delivery of the aircraft.

Final judgement might have to wait until the new 787-9 is fully painted [and seen in light], but it already appears the dash nine might look more beautiful than the dash eight.

SEE SEVEN PHOTOS OF THE FIRST BOEING 787-9 ROLLING OUT OF THE FACTORY via the Seattle PI and taken by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.

Big thanks to Liz Matzelle for letting us use her 787-9 video!

Air New Zealand's new white fern livery seen on the 787-9 Dreamliner. Image from Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand’s new white fern livery seen on the 787-9 Dreamliner. Image from Air New Zealand.

What is better than one new awesome livery? Two of course. Yesterday, Air New Zealand revealed not just one new livery, but two. The livery is much more than just a fancy new design; It is also the start of a $20million marketing partnership between the airline and Tourism New Zealand.

“We are delighted to reveal our new aircraft livery which would not have been possible without the support of Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise,” Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon stated in a press release. “The new-look livery is distinctive and iconic and we believe will inspire a sense of pride in New Zealanders.”

The new livery features the official New Zealand Fern Mark and is a bit reminiscent of the highly popular All Blacks livery design previously seen on the 777. This change also celebrates black becoming the airline’s new brand color.

In the coming year, Air New Zealand will introduce the new design first on the 787-9 Dreamliner and then to the rest of the fleet.  According to the airline the, “majority of the fleet will sport the white livery, with the black version reserved for a few select planes.” My bet is the first 787-9 will have the black livery.

In recent history, the airline has seemed a little lost in where they wanted their livery to go. With the introduction of the 777-300ER, the “Pacific Wave,” was removed and then more recently, it was announced the airline would go with a black tail. It might have taken them a while to arrive to this new livery, but holy smokes — what a looker, times two.

Air New Zealand is not stranger to interesting safety videos and this is the newest of the collection starring adventurer Bear Grylls. Unlike other safety videos, which normally take place inside an airline cabin, this video takes place in the great outdoors. During the video Bear runs into entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste and local New Zealand animals like the Tuatara (lizard), Kia (bird), and Weta (insect).

More than just a video, there is also a contest where you can win a trip to New Zealand. Count how many times you see the Moa (that big crazy looking bird) and enter at AirNZSafety.com.

Other Classic Air New Zealand Safety Videos:

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 (ZK-DKP) coming into LAX. Photo: Brandon Farris / AirlineReporter.com

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 (ZK-OKP) coming into LAX. Photo: Brandon Farris / AirlineReporter.com

Story and photos done by Brandon Farris for AirlineReporter.com:

On Saturday November 24th 2012, Air New Zealand unveiled it’s all new Hobbit themed 777-300. The aircraft will operate on the Auckland-Los Angeles-London Heathrow flight (ANZ 2) to showcase the plane that will make its way back to Auckland and onto Wellington in time for the world premier of The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey on November 28th.

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe says the imagery, which extends the full length of the 239-foot long aircraft, is simply stunning. ’œThis aircraft is going to excite passengers and fans of Sir Peter Jackson’s award-winning cinema fantasies alike when it begins regular Air New Zealand services between Auckland, Los Angeles and London from this evening.’

BONUS: B-Roll Video Footage of ANZ’s The Hobbit 777-300

Hundreds of people stopped and stared as the aircraft landed and was pulled into the gate. The decal took approximately 400 hours to apply to the Boeing 777 jet. Besides the special All Black livery this becomes the world’s largest logo jet to date.

A detailed close up of Air New Zealand's special Hobbit 777. Photo: Brandon Farris / AirlineRepoter.com.

A detailed close up of Air New Zealand’s special Hobbit 777. Photo: Brandon Farris / AirlineReporter.com.

’œNew Zealand is the home of Middle-earth and The Hobbit movies will be hugely important to New Zealand’s tourism industry in the next couple of years as international tourists are inspired to come and see and experience for themselves the landscapes which have shaped the movies.’

Air New Zealand has a unique partnership with Warner Bros. and the Lord of the Rings series and this is not the first themed aircraft that the airline has done. Previously, the airline painted a Boeing 747 to promote the original trilogy and ANZ will launch a second flying billboard next year utilizing another of its long haul aircraft to celebrate the second movie in the trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

EXTRA: Flying in Air New Zealand’s Business Premiere Product

Earlier this month, Air New Zealand released its most popular in-flight safety video to date. An Unexpected Briefing, which was created by the Academy Award-winning Weta Workshop and starred cast and crew members from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, as well as fans and Air New Zealand’s own cabin crew and pilots, has become a global hit with nearly 10 million views on YouTube since its release on October 31st.

MORE PHOTOS OF AIR NEW ZEALAND’S HOBBIT 777:
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