The 16-year-old Boeing 747-400 flys Auckland-San Francisco and returns two days later.
1981: AirNZ's first jumbo lands |
The airline's first 747 arrived in mid-1981, and there've been 13 flown by AirNZ since. It has had to keep the planes longer than planned, because of delays to the arrival of the more fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first of which has now joined the airline and is flying the trans-Tasman route.
While several airlines are keeping their jumbos - notably Lufthansa which is upgrading to the latest cargo-carrying version of the plane and KLM which still has 15 in its fleet - others are disposing of them in favour of lighter more efficient twin-engine aircraft.
ZK-NBV's sister, ZK-SUH (named for the southern city of Dunedin), retired from AirNZ's flight in July. The former Lord of The Rings jet was sold to new owners GE as a engine test jet.
Boeing produced more than 1500 jumbos, which revolutionised long-haul travel during the 1970s.
2014: ZK-NBV, seen at Auckland International Airport yesterday... |
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