Air New Zealand Markets The Heck Out Of The Hobbit With Wrapped Planes, A New Website, An Air Safety Video, And Lots of Extras.

With the upcoming release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (the latest of the J.R.R. Tolkien movies, all of which have been filmed in New Zealand), Air New Zealand has pulled out all the stops to market itself as 'The Airline of Middle Earth.'



above: their website design reflects the imagery from the movies.

With a fully wrapped plane in the movies' graphics, on board promotional items like hairy socks, sleeping masks and usb drives, a baggage carousel made to look like The Shire and a Hobbit-Inspired inflight safety video.

The Baggage Carousel:





The Socks:


The Sleeping Mask:


The USB Drive:


The Commemorative Pin:


The Safety vests worn by airport ground crew officials:


The Wrapped Plane:






In addition to all the above, Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop on a brand new Hobbit-inspired Safety Video which actually has a cameo by Hobbit director and Oscar winner Sir Peter Jackson.



The film, titled An Unexpected Briefing in reference to a chapter from The Lord Of The Rings novel, shows an aircraft packed with hobbits, dwarves and orcs preparing to take flight.



Oscar winner Sir Peter makes a cameo appearance as a Gollum-inspired creature before disappearing after finding The One Ring on the floor and slipping it on:



Flight attendants are dressed as elves and wizards as they take their passengers through a list of safety instructions, all of which are inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien novels.



Gollum is seen prowling the aisles as Tolkien's great-grandsons Mike and Royd Tolkien argue in the front row, and actor Dean O'Gorman, who plays Fili the Dwarf in the movie, demonstrates safety equipment.



behind the scenes:


The official trailer for the upcoming movie:


The movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure officially opens December 14th.
The Official Movie site.

all images courtesy of Air New Zealand

Flight BA2012 - Pop-Up Venue Features British Airways Great Britons' Art, Film and Food.

above: Pascal Anson and Tracey Emin with the Dove, inspiration for a special art decorated aircraft for British Airways

FLIGHT BA2012 SET TO POP UP!

British Airways will launch an exclusive airline themed pop-up venue – ‘Flight BA2012’, celebrating the best in British talent in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Open on select weekdays from April 4 to 17, the three-in-one art gallery, cinema and dining lounge will showcase the works of the BA Great Britons who were mentored by Richard E. Grant, Tracey Emin and Heston Blumenthal.


above: Richard E Grant, Tracey Emin and Heston Blumenthal launch the BA Great Britons Heroes programme (Getty Images)

Artist-designer Pascal Anson, screenwriter Prasanna Purwanarajah and Michelin-star chef Simon Hulstone beat hundreds of incredible entries to be selected as British Airways Great Britons 2012 and will have their work featured in the pop-up venue. Purwanarajah, Anson and Hulstone have created Olympic Games themed film, art and food respectively- a short-film named Boy, ‘Dove’ artwork livery for the celebratory aircraft and a bold British menu.

The airline-themed venue, hosted in East London, has been exclusively designed to recreate a premium flying experience and will offer guests a sneak preview of the Great Britons works before they are rolled out on flights beginning this month.

ART:


Flight BA2012 includes artwork from artist-designer Pascal Anson from Brighton, who was mentored by Tracey Emin on his ‘Dove’ design for a range of celebratory aircraft displayed in the gallery.



above: Pascal Anson and Tracey Emin look over Dove artwork (Pic: Nick Morrish/BA)

above: Dove drawings by Pascal Anson (courtesy of the artist)


FILM:


It also features short film ‘BOY’ starring Timothy Spall, written by screenwriter Prasanna Purwanarajah under the mentorship of Richard E. Grant, which will be screened in the cinema.


Trailer for 'BOY':



DINING / FOOD:


Guests will also be able to sample a bold British menu created by Michelin-star chef Simon Hulstone, who has produced an Olympic Games inspired menu under the guidance of Heston Blumenthal. (Unfortunately, tickets to the Flight BA2012 dining lounge are already sold out).



above: Not your normal airline food - Simon Hulstone's Fish Pie is a work of art (photo courtesy of Jim Wileman, British Airways)

above: Simon Hulstone at work

above: Heston Blumenthal and Simon Hulstone devised the Olympic-themed menu

Frank van der Post, British Airways managing director of brands and customer experience, said: “We wanted to bring the flying experience to the public, allowing guests to preview our in-flight entertainment, celebratory aircraft livery and on-board menus in anticipation of the London 2012 Games. This is going to be an exciting year for the capital and this is just the very start of our take-off!”

• Flight BA2012 is located at 3-10 Shoreditch High St, East London, E1 6PG.

• For £50, guests will receive entry to the gallery and screening room, plus a welcome glass of champagne, sit down three course menu with amuse bouche, and tea, coffee and petit four. (This dining experience is no longer available /sold out)

• Flight BA2012 will be open on April; 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17 only and closed for Easter and at the weekend

• The first scheduled flight for ‘The Dove’ will be in early April

• Short film BOY will be shown on all long-haul flights from April

• Simon’s menu will be available on long-haul flights departing London Heathrow between July and September (excluding certain routes such as India and Japan).

• The airline worked with LOCOG, BAFTA, the Fat Duck Experimental team and the Royal Academy of Arts on the BA Great Britons programme


British Airways is the official airline of the London 2012 Games.

information and images courtesy of British Airways and Getty Images

Window, Aisle or Web? American Airlines Adds Internet To Their Flights

Hi, I'm Laura. Surf Me. (if you don't get that, you're too young.. ask your parents)




I hate to admit it, but when I heard this on the news, I got very excited (I know, I really need to get a life). Now I no longer have to use the flight time to merely clean up my desktop, read in-flight mags or clean out my purse. At least on American Airlines major routes I can work, blog, shop, send e-mails and photos, etc.



American Airlines has launched Aircell's in-flight mobile broadband service, Gogo.

Effective Aug. 20, passengers traveling on American's Boeing 767-200 aircraft can pay a nominal fee for Web access on select flights from New York to San Francisco, New York to Los Angeles and New York to Miami.


Available video includes general views of passengers using Wi-Fi devices onboard aircrafts as well as executive and consumer soundbites.

Hot off the presses and straight from American Airlines & Aircell. Here's their corporate press release: American is the First Airline to Offer Full Inflight Internet in the U.S. on the Entire 767-200 Fleet



FORT WORTH, Texas and ITASCA, Ill. – Marking the beginning of the next wireless revolution, American Airlines made history today with the launch of the mobile broadband service, Gogo™ provided by Aircell ®.

Effective today, customers traveling on American’s Boeing 767-200 aircraft can access complete coast-to-coast coverage on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami. American, the world’s largest airline and founding member of the oneworld ® Alliance, and Aircell, the world’s leading provider of airborne communications, have joined together to bring the first full inflight broadband service to the U.S. market.

“We are pleased to provide our customers with the unprecedented ability to stay connected to their family, friends and business associates on the ground via the Internet while traveling at 30,000 feet above the United States,” said Dan Garton, American’s Executive Vice President – Marketing. “With today’s launch, American Airlines makes history as the first and only U.S. airline to offer customers full inflight Internet connectivity, demonstrating once again our industry leadership and focus on our customers.”

Aircell’s Gogo will be available to customers as a fee-based service in all cabins. Aircell will charge $12.95 on flights more than three hours, which include American’s Boeing 767-200 flights. Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services are not available.

Gogo turns an American Airlines flight into a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling passengers to surf the Web, check any email, Instant Message, access a corporate VPN, and more. Once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, users can simply turn on their Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, open their browsers and be directed to the Gogo portal page where they sign up and begin surfing. Gogo is powered by the Aircell air-to-ground (ATG) Broadband System, which runs over Aircell’s exclusive nationwide network.

“Today, U.S. air travel changes forever. With Aircell’s unique ATG inflight Internet service, airlines finally have an economically viable option for providing the broadband connectivity passengers are demanding,” said Jack Blumenstein, President and CEO, Aircell. “American Airlines is the first to bring inflight Internet to market, and today the days of being cut off from the rest of the world while in the air become history.”

So, Will Other Airlines Follow Suit?

NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the few remaining Internet-free havens vanished Wednesday as American Airlines launched airborne e-mail, Web and other online services on some of its longer, nonstop flights.

The move could create a new stream of revenue for an aviation industry facing high fuel prices and other challenges. But it also could create new headaches as passengers retrieve sensitive e-mails and Web sites in confined quarters.

It also could end a common excuse people have to avoid checking "urgent" e-mail requests from their bosses. Unread magazines and books could now pile up as passengers devote their time aloft to electronic browsing.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., tested in-flight access on two flights on June 25. With Wednesday's launch, the airline is making service available for $12.95 per flight on its 15 Boeing 767-200 planes connecting New York with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

"Today the days of being cut off from the rest of the world while in the air become history," said Jack Blumenstein, chief executive of Aircell LLC, the company providing Internet services for American and other airlines.

Delta Air Lines Inc., Virgin America and US Airways Group Inc. are among the other airlines planning to test in-flight services.

JetBlue Airways Corp. offers free Wi-Fi service on one aircraft through its LiveTV subsidiary, limited to e-mail without attachments, instant messaging and some services from Amazon.com. Continental Airlines Inc. also plans to use LiveTV with similar restrictions.

Aircell's Gogo service is still formally a test, meaning American could drop it entirely after three to six months or expand it to other planes, depending on customer adoption and feedback. It can work with most laptops, Apple Inc.'s iPhone, some models of Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerrys and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

The system will block Internet-based phone calls, giving passengers relief from chatty seatmates.

However, American and other U.S. airlines have said they will not filter sites based on their content, raising the prospect of passengers surfing racy material with kids nearby. Airlines say they already have general policies to address unruly passengers, and those would apply as they do now to passengers who browse adult magazines.

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

Learn how to surf the net in the friendly skies, how to use your blackberry, etc and other technological info here.