January 23, 2003 -- Los Angeles -- Air New Zealand will unveil Friday the second of its The Lord of the Rings themed flying billboards - a Boeing 767-300 depicting the epic love story of key film characters "Aragorn" and "Arwen." The aircraft shows the characters, played by Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler, set against the stunning backdrop of the Remarkables mountain range near Queenstown, New Zealand.

Spearheading an ambitious two-year campaign to promote Air New Zealand as the "Airline to Middle-earth," the second The Lord of the Rings aircraft will carry the airline's tourism message to almost every corner of the globe.

"As a flying billboard to promote New Zealand tourism, this is as powerful as it gets," said Air New Zealand Vice President - The Americas, Peter Walsh. "This pair of aircraft, 'Frodo' and 'Aragorn,' represent a significant investment by Air New Zealand - not only in the cost of creating and applying these images - but also in a wide-ranging marketing deal with New Line Cinema."

While Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler have yet to see the "Aragorn" aircraft, Elijah Wood flew to New Zealand for the Wellington premiere of the motion picture on the "Frodo" aircraft, which debuted in Los Angeles on December 16, 2002.

Wood was reported as saying: "It's been one of the best days of my life - starting with arriving in New Zealand this morning onboard a plane with my face on its side!" (Read more about the Frodo aircraft.)

In the five and a half weeks since the "Frodo" themed aircraft was unveiled, it has already flown more than 180,000 miles and visited the world's movie capital - Los Angeles - about 20 times. The plane has also been seen several times at Heathrow in London, as well as in Sydney and Japan. The visibility of the themed aircraft at this time is ideal, as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has been the hottest box office act in the industry.

The "Aragorn" themed aircraft will fly primarily Pacific Rim routes - Honolulu, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands - dovetailing with the London and Los Angeles routes that the first "Frodo" themed plane (a Boeing 747-400) flies.

The 767 "Aragorn" aircraft's imagery is 3,444 square feet overall. The image is generated in the form of a giant decal and was applied over a 25-hour period by crew working from cherry pickers. Although the decal is made from film by 3M and is barely thicker than cling film, the sheer size of the image means the decal is heavy. For 747 "Frodo" plane, the decal weighed 132 pounds; for the smaller 767 "Aragorn" plane, the weight of the decal is 75 pounds.

The "Aragorn" aircraft will fly into Los Angeles at 12:20 p.m. Friday, January 24. It will be parked at Terminal 2. Due to security restrictions, reporters will not be allowed past screening inside the terminal. However, the plane will be parked at gate 21 in Terminal 2, which is closest to the public roadway on the departure level between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The aircraft can be clearly viewed from the departure level sidewalk, and is expected to remain at that location until it departs about 7:00 p.m.

The Lord of the Rings, and the names of the characters, events, items and places therein, are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of Air New Zealand.