Air New Zealand’s newest Boeing 777-300ER has entered Boeing’s Seattle painting facility to receive a make over that will see it become the world’s largest commercially operated aircraft painted all black.
Painting of the aircraft will take just over a week, with the aircraft expected out of the hangar during the coming weekend (NZ time) sporting its all black livery from nose to tail.
“A paint job like this is extremely complex requiring 14 expert painters at Boeing working in shifts 24 hours a day to get the job done,” says Air New Zealand Group General Manager International Airline Christopher Luxon.
“The aircraft’s all black paint job will be overlaid with a design featuring New Zealand’s distinctive silver fern that will extend across the rear of the aircraft up to its tail.”
Painting of the aircraft is part of Air New Zealand’s sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and the World Champion All Blacks rugby team.
The aircraft, Air New Zealand’s fifth and final currently on order, is expected to be delivered to Air New Zealand in late January once the aircraft’s interior fit out is completed.
By mid next year Air New Zealand will have six aircraft featuring the all black livery including two Airbus A320s and three Beech 1900D turbo-props.
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Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs ph +64 21 747 320
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,200 daily flights to 1,185 airports in 185 countries.
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