The Hobbit – Purple Travel Official Blog

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug or Dragons on a Plane

Dec 09 2013

Air New Zealand, the official airline of Middle-earth is celebrating the release of the new Hobbit film early, with a scary Smaug themed livery for its planes. A Boeing 777-300 has been specially touched up to show the dragon Smaug all the way down each side to celebrate the release of The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug.

The plane’s new livery is all part of a theme for Air New Zealand who pull out all the stops when it comes to Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Last year there was a similar effort when various characters from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey featured on the side of an aircraft. However, this year the mighty dragon Smaug voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch takes the starring role. Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon says it’s been a privilege to collaborate with the film team and Director Peter Jackson; “we worked with the digital effects company behind The Hobbit Trilogy, Weta Digital, and they designed the graphic for us especially for this purpose.”

Images via @ AirNzHobbitMedia

The hobbit plane arrives

Nov 27 2012

First, we had Hobbit health and safety, then we had secret tours of the Shire, now we’ve got the Hobbit Jumbo Jet. As fans around the world gear up for the next JRR Tolkien masterpiece, Air New Zealand (now known as the official airline of Middle Earth) has gone one better with its dedicated Hobbit plane. The airline launched its special Boeing 777 has been dressed up with images from the film.

New Zealand is going all out to celebrate the launch of the new Peter Jackson film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Wellington has been renamed Middle of Middle Earth, and the city is gripped by Hobbit fever as are we!

And if that’s not exciting enough, here’s what the new Hobbit trailer looks like.

The Hobbit is released in the UK on Dec 13th.

Tag - The Hobbit