This airline wrap will elevate your Tuesday, we promise. Oh, and our apologies if that joke didn’t really take off.

Air New Zealand’s first A321neo takes flight today

Air New Zealand’s first A321neo (new engine option) aircraft will operate its inaugural service this afternoon, flight NZ739 from Auckland to Brisbane.

The aircraft, with the tail registration ZK-NNA, is the first of 13 new Airbus neo aircraft (seven A321neos and six A320neos) to join Air New Zealand’s fleet.

More than 40 teams from across the airline have been hard at work since the aircraft arrived on 5 November making final preparations before customers board for the very first time.

Emirates expands its partnership with Uber to offer Australian customers a seamless travel journey

Emirates has expanded its exclusive global partnership with Uber based on outstanding customer feedback for an end-to-end travel experience. Australians travelling on Emirates Economy Flex Plus and Emirates Economy Flex fares from more than 20 global destinations can now avail special discounted airport rides from and to Dubai International Airport.

The offer allows Emirates passengers travelling from Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, Chicago and New York in the United States; Amman in Jordan; Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria; Accra in Ghana; Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Sialkot and Karachi in Pakistan; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil; Tokyo and Osaka in Japan; and Bologna, Rome, Milan and Venice in Italy, to redeem discounted rides on Uber when travelling to Dubai. The offer is valid for booking and travel from now until 10 December 2018.

Australian passengers can enjoy seamless airport transfers in conjunction with Uber and get around town for less when flying with Emirates. Economy Flex Plus travellers can avail two free rides from and to Dubai International Airport from anywhere in Dubai up to the value of AED 120 per trip (or enter equivalent market currency), while Economy Flex passengers will get 50 per cent off two rides, from and to Dubai International Airport to anywhere in Dubai up to the value of AED 60 per trip (or enter equivalent market currency).

Passengers can avail the special offers by booking via the Emirates website during the promotional period. The Uber promotion code offer is currently also available for passengers visiting Dubai from South Africa, Egypt, France and Saudi Arabia, until 10 December 2018.

Virgin Australia’s newest pilot cadets ready for take-off

Virgin Australia’s latest group of pilot cadets are celebrating their graduation after an extensive 54-week course conducted at Flight Training Adelaide in South Australia.

The graduating group of ab initio1 pilots have secured flying positions with Virgin Australia and will now move onto the ATR 72 and Boeing 777 aircraft types as certified First and Second Officers.

The cadet’s graduation comes just weeks after the 2019 intake was announced with 16 new cadets to join the program next year, and after Virgin Australia announced it had been selected by Tamworth Regional Council as the preferred airline group to establish a world-class pilot training centre in the New South Wales city.

Virgin Australia has been running its pilot cadetship in conjunction with Flight Training Adelaide since 2012. The next ab initio courses will commence in January and June 2019.

British Airways bids farewell to iconic Boeing 767

British Airways today bids farewell to one of the most iconic aircraft in its fleet, the Boeing 767. The airline’s final two 767s are being retired to St Athan in Wales after the last commercial flight – Larnaca in Cyprus to Heathrow – took place yesterday.

Since British Airways operated its first 767 in February 1990 on a short hop to Paris, the fleet of aircraft have completed over 425,000 commercial flights. Frankfurt was the route where enthusiasts could spot the 767 most frequently, with the aircraft completing nearly 15,000 flights to and from the airport, but the aircraft has also been used to serve routes from Abu Dhabi, to Calgary and New York. While it was initially used for long-haul, in recent years it has been reconfigured for use on short-haul, including to Athens and Larnaca as well as on some domestic routes.

The retirement comes as British Airways looks to the future of its fleet. Just days ago, the airline took delivery of its 30th Boeing 787 Dreamliner – the newest aircraft in its fleet. Not only is the Dreamliner around 40 per cent quieter than other aircraft it also uses 20 per cent less fuel than similarly sized aircraft. This means a reduction in carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

But it’s not just the 787 being added to British Airways’ fleet. Later in the year the airline will take delivery of another pioneering aircraft – its first Airbus A350, part of the airline’s £4.5bn investment for customers over the next five years.

SilkAir to transfer routes to Scoot ahead of merger into Singapore Airlines

Scoot is to take over a number of SilkAir’s routes over the next two years, ahead of SilkAir’s merger into Singapore Airlines (SIA). Scoot will also be transferring some of its services to existing destinations served by SIA and SilkAir.

The changes are expected to take place between April 2019 and the second half of 2020. They are the result of a detailed review to identify which airlines in the SIA Group portfolio are best suited to meet evolving customer demand. The changes, which are subject to regulatory approvals, are planned as follows:

• From SilkAir to Scoot: Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos, in April 2019
• Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam in India, between May 2019 and October 2019
• Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Wuhan in China, between May 2019 and June 2019
• Chiang Mai in Thailand, in October 2019
• Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, in December 2019
• Balikpapan, Lombok, Makassar, Manado, Semarang and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, between May 2020 and July 2020
• From Scoot to SIA (Both are existing SIA destinations): Bengaluru and Chennai in India, in May 2019 and May 2020
• From Scoot to SilkAir (Both are existing SilkAir destinations): Shenzhen in China, from June 2019
• Kochi in India, from October 2019