Air New Zealand needs your help to name its brand new Airbus A320neo, registration ZK-NHF.
On November 3, 202, the airline took delivery of its first A320neo since the end of 2019. A second A320neo will follow from Toulouse late next week.
“Air New Zealand is asking Kiwis to get creative and help name the new plane,” the airline announced in a press statement.
Suggestions can be made here.
Haere mai ZK-NHF What should we name our brand-new @Airbus A320Neo? pic.twitter.com/Fzk2xfGgRl
— Air New Zealand (@FlyAirNZ) November 3, 2021
Of course, it wasn’t long before replies came in suggesting ‘Planey McPlaneface’, a reference to ‘Boaty McBoatface’, a jokey suggestion for the name of a British research vessel.
Boaty McBoatface won the public vote to name the vessel back in 2016, but the proposal was overruled and the ship was named the RSS David Attenborough instead, after the famous naturalist. However, conceding to public outcry, one of the research submersibles onboard the RSS David Attenborough was given the Boaty McBoatface moniker.
The brand new A320neo has had quite a journey to get to Aotearoa. It’s 21,000 kilometers from the Airbus factory in Toulouse to Auckland. The short-haul aircraft flew via Canada, Los Angeles, Honolulu and the Cook Islands before reaching New Zealand.
“Our new A320 is a welcome sign of international travel being just on the horizon,” Air New Zealand’s Chief Pilot Captain David Morgan said in a press release.