Air New Zealand’s new All Black A320 aircraft will touch down at Auckland airport for the first time this afternoon, signalling the start of the airline’s domestic fleet renewal.
The aircraft (ZK-OAB), is due to arrive in Auckland at 3:30pm NZDT time this afternoon, after making a three day journey from the home base of manufacturer Airbus in Toulouse (France), via Gander (Canada), Denver, Los Angeles and Samoa.
Featuring a jet black livery, a silver fern motif and Koru on the tail, the specially painted A320 celebrates the airline’s long running sponsorship of the All Blacks rugby team, and will be the airline’s first A320 for domestic operations throughout New Zealand.
Fourteen A320s will progressively replace Air New Zealand’s existing fleet of Boeing 737-300s, increasing passenger capacity by 30 per cent.