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.’
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 / 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.
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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The Airbus A380 is one impressive beast. Even if you might not find her to be the most beautiful aircraft built, her beauty is in her ride. It is amazing to watch one fly over, while just a few feet above head.
SpeedbirdHD posted this video showing Airbus A380s from Qantas, Korean Air, and Singapore Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Cheers: A long flight made easy with LAN’s product. Jeers: Lima is on my naughty list… first impressions count. Bottom Line: A great product, but it is hard to fly on a Boeing 767 after flying on a 787.
My home for 12.5 hours – the other hour was spent in the Lima airport. Too bad I was missing a window.
LAN AIRLINES PREMIUM BUSINESS CLASS FULL REVIEW:
I was excited to compare LAN’s Business Class configuration during my flight from Santiago back home to Seattle. Only a few days earlier, I had flown down on LAN’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner non-stop from Everett, WA. It was an impressive flight, and I was awestruck by the new 787’s atmosphere. I was looking forward to checking out LAN’s older product on the flight back home, to see how it measured up. (note: LAN paid for my trip to Santiago and flight back home to cover their 787 delivery).
A Boeing 767-300ER would carry me from Santiago to Lima, and on to LAX. (I had to catch an Alaska Airlines flight back home to Seattle). My schedule had me reach SCL about five hours before my flight was scheduled to depart. No problem — my premium ticket gave me access to the LAN lounge which includes complimentary food, beverages, and even shower facilities.
The time flew right on by (pun intended), and soon it was time to board the aircraft. I knew the product on the 767 was not going to be as new or modern as the 787, but I was quite delighted with what I found. The Premium Business Class is in a 2-2-2 layout, and I went for a window seat. I ended up with a vacant seat next to me ’“ I felt like I had almost unlimited space, a sensation unheard of in current-day air travel.
While everyone settled in, flight attendants came around asking if I wanted anything to drink, which is pretty standard. The lead flight attendant also went around to each customer, introduced himself, and shook everyone’s hand. This was new which I’d never seen before and I was quite impressed.
I’d never before seen Lima, so I decided to stay awake during the first leg, holding sleep off until the second leg into LAX. I didn’t think it would be easy since I was pretty tired , but I had more than enough to keep me entertained.
The food was fresh, colorful, tasty and filling on my LAN flight.
The in-flight entertainment system was a bit slow and cumbersome, but it did what it needed to do ’“ it kept me entertained. The controller lived on the side of the seat, which meant I would accidentally hit it with my leg and stop my movie a few times. I’ve experienced this with other airlines, but here I could at least get the movie to easily resume where I left it. Other comparable systems from this era required me to fast forward. I solved the issue by simply pulling out the remote and letting it dangle so I wouldn’t hit it (keep it classy people).
Initially I was pretty excited about idea of stopping in Lima. I’d never been there and figured it would be a unique FourSquare check-in. I imagined we would land and those stopping at Lima would depart while those of us going to LAX would stay on. Sigh… no, it cannot be that easy.
We were told that we would have to de-plane and re-board. Okay, sure… it is 2:00am Chilean time and midnight in Lima, but I can play this game. The problem was, we didn’t just de-plane and wait at the gate area. We had to go through customs and be re-scanned – sweet.
I suggest using the pre-set buttons. I had a hard time manually getting the seat to do what I wanted it to.
Yeah, I am used to the process. Ask me why am I was in Chile and how long I was there. Now take out my laptop and put my bag in the scanner. The security person saw something in my bag they didn’t like and wanted to do a hand search. Sure, go ahead.
As they started going through my bag, I had difficulty getting through the metal detector. I am not a travel newbie and knew I had no metal on me, but it kept going off. After a nice little pat down, it turns out that my chip in my Passport was setting it off. They apparently have those detectors turned all the way up.
Back to my bag. The agent searches through and takes out my cork screw, while giving me a dirty look and shaking their head like it was a big knife or something. Okay, fine, take my cork screw that I have flown around the world with me.
I was a bit annoyed with the Lima security, but figured it was all over when I got to the gate. Guess what? Before we could re-board, all of our bags were hand-searched again. This time they took my nail clippers…really? Again, I have flown all over the world with nail clippers, but sure, at this point I just wanted to get back on the plane.
It takes quite a bit to get me annoyed when dealing with airlines or airports, but this did it. And when I am annoyed, it means that your standard passengers are super annoyed and upset — and oh boy were they.
Many left the plane in good spirits, but those returning were not happy. Not a great first impression Lima, might want to think about having a little better customer service, because I am in no hurry to visit again.
LAN’s 767 In-Flight Entertainment product is not as slick as the 787’s, but not too shabby compared to other airlines.
This experience was not LAN’s fault; they have no control over what happens when they land at Lima. “When we have a stop-over in Lima, the government dictates whether or not our passengers are going to have to deplane and go through customs, or just deplane and then get back on the same plane for departure,” LAN spokesperson Megan Kat Williams told AirlineReporter.com. “We realize that this can be a huge inconvenience for our passengers, but we usually do not have much notice as to what they are going to require us to do.”
I was happy to get back on the plane. I was planning to get some rest, but was almost done with a movie that I wanted to finish while we took off. Argh! Even though I had the same seat, the system must had been re-started, because I had to fast forward. Normally not a big deal, but I was pretty grumpy after my experience with Lima.
After takeoff, I finished my movie and it was time for sleep. The seats fold flat and do their job well. I slept for six hours but, I have to admit, it wasn’t super comfy. If LAN would let passengers have a padded cover to put on top of the seat before going to sleep, it would make a huge improvement.
I think that LAN provides a great business class product on their Boeing 767 and upgrading to the 787 is only better. I only wish there was no need to make a stop in Lima.
I have almost gotten over my addiction with Gangnam Style (don’t judge me), sung by South Korean author Psy. It does not help when SpeedbirdHD recently posted a video highlighting Korean Air flights to/from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to the song Gangnam Style. Two of my favorite things combined, equals I want to share. The video shows Korean Air’s Airbus A380, A330, Boeing 747-400 and 777-300ER at LAX.
Even if you are sick and tired of the song, hit mute or put on your own tunes and watch this video.
Alaska Airlines has a nice collection of special liveries on their Boeing 737s. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is a great place to spot these birds and SpeedBirdHD has made a video that highlights the special livery aircraft seen at LAX.
