Air New Zealand celebrates All Blacks rugby team sponsorship with black plane
Air New Zealand's All Black Plane, painted in honour of its sponsorship of New Zealand's World champion rugby team.
The new all black Boeing 777-300ER arrived in London Heathrow yesterday and will officially begin flying the London – Los Angeles - Auckland route this week.
Christopher Luxon, Air New Zealand Group general manager, said: “The all black colour scheme and silver fern are a key part of both New Zealand’s and the All Blacks’ identity, so we’re excited to be able to take that iconic imagery to the world on a flying billboard that’s more than 242 feet (73.9 metres) long.
“It will certainly get people’s attention when they see it landing at its main destinations of Auckland, Los Angeles and London Heathrow airports over the coming year.”
According to Boeing, painting the aircraft took just over a week, two days longer than it normally takes to paint a 777 aircraft, using 700 litres of chrome-free primer and paint.