Air New Zealand (Auckland) is planning to operate a demonstration flight to the Pegasus ice runway near the McMurdo Station in Antarctica on October 5 per Wired Magazine. ANZ will operate a Boeing 767-300 to the ice runway. Currently the United States Air Force (using C-17S) and the Royal New Zealand Air Force (using a Boeing 757) operate regular flights to the station, mainly during the Southern Hemisphere summer. If feasible, the airline will operate charter flights to the southern continent.

Air New Zealand has a long history with Antarctica.  In the 1970s the company operated sightseeing charter flights to the continent the overflew the rugged terrain. Tragically on November 29, 1979 while operating flight NZ 901, DC-10-30 ZK-NZP (msn 46910) with 257 passengers and crew members on board crashed into Mount Erebus killing all on board.

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Meanwhile on the livery front, following the announcement on June 12, 2013, Air New Zealand, in cooperation with the national tourism agency, Tourism New Zealand, is going to the pictured “New Zealand Fern Mark” as the airline’s official color scheme to also promote tourism to the nation.

As previously reported, there will be two livery versions. The first features a white fuselage with a black strip running diagonally on the rear fuselage from the tail, adorned with the iconic koru logo in white. The black and white “New Zealand Fern Mark” is vividly displayed on the fuselage. This livery will be used on most of the fleet. A few aircraft will be painted in a distinctive all black livery with the fern mark in silver. The first to display the new look, the pictured Airbus A320-232 ZK-OXB (msn 5682), was rolled out of the paint shop on September 24, 2013.

Copyright Photo: Colin Hunter/AirlinersGallery.com. ZK-OXB is captured beautifully on the taxiway at the Auckland hub.

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