Air New Zealand announces dramatic fly-past to welcome World Premiere celebrations.
Monday's celebrations to launch The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are set for some aerial excitement with a low-level flypast by Air New Zealand's Frodo-themed Boeing 747-400, just 1,000 feet above central Wellington.
Weather permiting, the 747 will approach the central city across Wellington harbour, turning towards the CBD out from the Westpac Stadium, then flying over the city starting near Te Papa in a gentle curve up the Newtown Valley out to Island Bay before looping back over the harbour and returning to Auckland.
Sightseers should scan the skies from 3.40pm onwards. The aircraft, which is flying down from Auckland for this special flypast, is due to come up the harbour at 3.45pm.
Weather permitting, the aircraft will arrive above New Zealand's capital city during the spectacular premiere parade of stars and costumed The Lord of the Rings characters, which will wend its way from the New Zealand Government building, the Beehive, along Lambton Quay and down Courtenay Place towards the Embassy Theatre.
This aircraft, registration ZK-NBV, is the flagship and first of Air New Zealand's Middle-earth themed fleet. Four aircraft in total are now fully decorated in The Lord of the Rings themed designs – two Boeing 747's, a Boeing 767 and the latest, an Airbus A320, which was launched today.
The Frodo aircraft, as it has become known, carries the faces of Elijah Wood, who plays The Lord of the Rings hobbit Frodo, and his trusted companion Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee) set against a map of the Shire and Hobbiton. The image covers an area of 600 square metres and the giant decal jigsaw is made up of 240 individual pieces each painstakingly applied to the fuselage.
Air New Zealand's Vice President Marketing & Alliances Ed Sims said the flypast would add a little extra excitement to a very special day for Wellington.
"Wellington's relatively short runway means we can't normally operate an aircraft the size of the Boeing 747 into the capital, so the appearance of the Frodo-themed aircraft is a head-turner for Wellington residents. It will be an incredible sight," he said.
Wellington's mayor Kerry Prendergast described the flypast announcement as 'tremendously exciting'. She added: "Wellington is buzzing as we count down to The Lord of the Rings Parade and premiere on Monday. I think Air New Zealand's initiative of a low level flypast by the Frodo-painted Lord of the Rings 747 during the parade will add much to the sense of excitement and anticipation shared by Wellingtonians and visitors alike as they prepare to take part in the event of a lifetime."
Captain Bruce Donnelly, Air New Zealand's chief training manager for the Boeing 747 fleet, who has flown for the airline for 30 years, will command the aircraft. Captain Donnelly is an experienced display pilot and has undertaken several low level exhibition flights with Boeing 747-400 aircraft in recent years.
He will be accompanied by Captain Tom Clark, a 30-year veteran of Air New Zealand's Boeing 747 fleet and also a training captain, together with First Officer Mark Perryman, who has flown for Air New Zealand for 18 years.
The flypast is a highlight of Air New Zealand's two-year partnership with trilogy producers New Line Cinema which has seen a variety of high profile promotions campaigns in key tourism markets around the world.
NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.
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