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February 1, 2011 - Air New Zealand’s new A320 in the new
All Black Livery touched down at LAX on Sunday during
its delivery flight on the way from
France to New Zealand.
This distinctive new plane will operate on domestic New Zealand routes from February.
The aircraft with it’s newly painted all black livery,
recently flew from Airbus' manufacturing facility in
Toulouse,
France, to Hamburg, Germany
where cabin interior fit-out is now nearing completion.
The aircraft is the first of Air New
Zealand's new domestic Airbus A320 jet fleet
and is the only aircraft in the airline's fleet to be
painted with an exclusive black livery.
"The all black livery, with silver fern motif and Koru
on its tail, is to celebrate Air New Zealand's long
running sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby Union and
the All Blacks," says Air New Zealand's General Manager New Zealand Scott Carr.
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Air
New Zealand has 14 of the 171
seat aircraft on order, which will be progressively introduced
into the airline's fleet from early February. "The first four
will be delivered this year and the remaining ten progressively
through until 2016, coinciding with the expiry of our current
B737-300 aircraft leases," says Carr.
The larger
aircraft will enable Air New Zealand
to increase capacity on routes that are beginning to face
capacity constraints at some airports during peak times. The
current 737 fleet is configured with 133 seats, with the larger
domestic A320 aircraft increasing domestic jet capacity by
almost 30%. The aircraft was one a three day journey with stops
in Gander (Canada),
Denver, Los Angeles,
Hawaii, Samoa and then it will fly to Auckland in early February.
The
interior for the new A320 fleet will mirror the recently
revealed color-scheme and materials being fitted into the
airline's new fleet of Boeing 777-300 aircraft, and includes LED
mood lighting throughout the cabin. Carr says the new fleet
of A320s, together with the new fleet of B777-300s, will ensure
Air New Zealand
continues to have one of the youngest fleets in the world, and a
world-beating product across the entire jet fleet.
Air
New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of
New Zealand. Based in
Auckland, New Zealand,
the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic
destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries
across Asia, Europe, North America and
Oceania, and is currently the only airline to
circumnavigate the world. Air New Zealand
is a member of the Star Alliance global airline alliance, having
joined in 1999.
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