If a black airplane lands at night, do you even see it land at all? Okay that was kinda stupid, but all words pale in comparison to the awesomeness of the newest Boeing 777-300ER to be delivered to fun-loving Air New Zealand. It's the All Blacks-edition jet, the second plane in AirNZ's fleet to be outfitted in the black livery that's an ode to the rugby team All Blacks. One could even say the color is jet black.

The 777 is fresh off the Boeing assembly line in Everett, WA and lucky to start its life as the pimpest-looking plane in the sky. It's actually the largest plane painted noir, as the old Playboy DC-9 is long gone and AirNZ's other black metal is the smaller Airbus A320, confined to domestic itineraries. But this baby—this one with its three classes (four if you count the Skycouch)—this one is also flying further, like to LAX and London from Auckland.]]> JetSetCD 2011-12-19T08:40:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/15/61333/3374

United's 777 from San Francisco to Tokyo-Narita in Business Class was a fly-by-night thing. Literally. It was a flight on which we upgraded at the last minute, boarded at the last minute, and everyone onboard slept for the majority of the 11-hour, 15-minute flight.

Since we've already detailed the in-flight meals, we'll keep our impressions of the seats and service quick and dirty: ]]> JetSetCD 2011-09-15T14:26:47-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/1/3/155831/4934 As you might have guessed from our preview last week, we were all up in and around the all-new interiors on the first of Air New Zealand’s five 777-300ER’s last week, when we hopped aboard the delivery flight from Seattle to Los Angeles. Of course our first order of business was to cuddle up in the new SkyCouch.

Here’s a quick video we asked one of the friendly flight attendants to make showing us how to set up the SkyCouch for slumber, and then we’ll fill you in on our experience test-napping it during the long-haul flight from Los Angeles to Auckland...
]]> EricRosen 2011-01-04T09:31:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/12/22/143513/55 Earlier this week, we took a pre-holiday jaunt up to Seattle for a quickie tour of the Boeing factory, including visits to the 777 and 787 production lines, with the final goal being a tete-a-tete with Air New Zealand’s new SkyCouch-equipped 777-300ERs.

At their flagship facility in Everett, Washington, just outside Seattle, we heard about the company’s strategic planning for the future and it’s twin-pronged strategy of promoting the 777 and 787 as complementary components of an airline’s service. As the giant planes ever so slowly inched along on their assembly lines, we learned that although Boeing is only turning out 5 777s monthly right now, the plan is to increase productivity to 8.3 a month by 2013, for a grand total of 100 a year.

And then we were off to visit the big guns: the 787 Dreamliner and Air NZ's new baby, a shiny 777-300ER.]]> EricRosen 2010-12-24T10:48:35-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/12/7/1146/87796

And we're back, live from Hong Kong, to reveal the big news that had Cathay Pacific inviting over 3,000 of their most frequent flyers to come check out. Many announcements dropped only a couple hours ago, the most important of which is the debut of newer, wider, fancier business class seats.

We've been rolling through our photos like gangbusters, after posting the very first images online of the new seats via Twitter, and now—without further ado—here are Cathay's new biz seats with lie-flat beds, with the space to allow "passengers to sleep in any position." ]]> JetSetCD 2010-12-07T12:17:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/12/63550/2768

Lately we’ve been pretty hot and heavy about Boeing’s 777 plane, especially since that’s the bird that Branson and company have chosen to launch V Australia. However, apparently there’s some trouble with the 777 engines, and federal regulators want airliners to take a look at what’s going on. If you’re planning a trip down under on V—don’t worry—their 777s use engines from General Electric. ]]> kjb 2009-03-12T09:56:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/2/9368/58928

Machinists at Boeing's Everett, Washington factory have been on strike for nearly a month, extending seemingly endless delays on the 787--and on the three 777s V Australia ordered for its first flights. The new carrier, an offshoot of Virgin Blue, will now move its launch date back from December 15 to February 28, 2009 and hope that its planes are ready by then.

There are a couple of options for passengers who booked one of the now-canceled flights. You can call up for a full refund, or the carrier will book you on another airline, if you need to fly. A third option: V Australia will rebook passengers on a flight "on or after March 1, 2009" and toss in a $200 voucher for another Virgin Blue flight.

If the strike comes to an end soon--though The Seattle Times says that ain't likely--V Australia says it will move its launch date back up. As for all the money the carrier will lose because of the strike, a press release ominously declares:

The impact of the serious delay would be addressed between Virgin Blue and The Boeing Company at a later date.

Related Stories:
· Boeing Strike Delays Launch of V Australia [MarketWatch]
· V Australia on Track for First Flights in '08 [Jaunted]
· Red Tape Worries V Australia [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-10-02T09:38:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/