Is this really one of the 'ugliest planes that have ever flown'? Photo / Mark Mitchell
Air New Zealand has billed itself as the official "airline to Middle-earth" since it debuted its first Lord of the Rings livery on a Boeing 747 back in 2002.
But now, one of these iconic themed jets has been singled out in a list of the "ugliest planes that have
ever flown", compiled by the UK's Daily Telegraph.
The Boeing 777-300, embellished with residents of Middle-earth was released in 2012 ahead of the first installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy.
Standing alongside our national carrier were other "ugly" airlines, including Bangkok's Nok Air, with distinctive bird-like livery, Russian-based S7 airlines, because "lime green only looks good on a New Orleans pimp", and Air Jamaica, with a colour scheme that "would not look out of place on an early Nineties ski suit".
In 2003, the Herald reported that a special low-flying "Frodo flight" to show off one of the first "flying billboards" around the country failed to draw crowds on Auckland's waterfront.
