Air New Zealand is bringing back its last aircraft from desert boneyard

After more than 855 days in storage, the last of Air New Zealand’s jets sent to a US desert has been dusted off and is ready to come home. The Boeing 777-300, registration OKM, will touch down in Auckland on Wednesday after a 10,000km journey from the Mojave Desert near Victorville, California. Air New Zealand COO Alex Marren said it had taken more than seven weeks and more than 1500 manhours of work to get the aircraft back up and running. “The process starts off with unwrapping the plane from its storage protection and then it gets a good wash, getting rid of the dust and grime that has accumulated in the desert,” she said. “Then it goes through a thorough servicing and maintenance programme. It’s a long and a complicated process and our engineering and maintenance team have done an amazing job getting the aircraft ready to fly again.” A pilot team then spent a day running through checks and tests, similar to the process when getting a new aircraft from the factory. “Overall, a team of more 100 Air New Zealanders have been involved in bringing back these 777 aircrafts in some way,” Marren said.<br/>