Air New Zealand Limited : World’s largest all black aircraft to touch down in Auckland tomorrow

Air New Zealand's newest Boeing 777-300ER, the world's largest commercially operated aircraft to be painted all black, will touch down in New Zealand for the first time tomorrow morning (Thursday 12 January) at Auckland International Airport.

The aircraft's all black paint job is overlaid with a design featuring New Zealand's distinctive silver fern that extends across the rear of the aircraft up to its tail. The paint job was extremely complex requiring 14 expert painters at Boeing working in shifts 24 hours a day to get the job done.

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's flight path over Auckland will depend on weather and wind conditions on the day but its arrival at Auckland Airport is expected at approximately 9.00 am.

Expected flight path if landing on runway 23L to the southwest:

The aircraft will approach Auckland from the northeast over Browns Bay at approximately 8:40am before tracking to Whenuapai then turning left to fly at lower altitude over the harbour bridge and past the eastern beaches. At Music Point it will turn right towards Mangere Bridge to overfly Auckland International Airport from the north. The aircraft will then position to land overflying Manukau.

Expected flight path if landing on runway 05R to the northeast:

The aircraft will approach Auckland from the northeast between Waiheke Island and Motutapu Island at approximately 8:40am, turn right over Browns Island and fly at lower altitude down the harbour over the harbour bridge towards Te Atatu before turning left over the Balmoral Three Kings area to overfly Auckland International Airport from the north. The aircraft will then position to land over the Manukau Harbour.

Ends

Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs ph [phone]

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 and 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, Ethiopian Airlines, 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 and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.

For more information about Air New Zealand visit www.airnewzealand.comand for more information about Star Alliance visit www.staralliance.com .