The Pilot's New Clothes

Air New Zealand is baring all — literally.



A screen grab from Air New Zealand's new in-flight safety video featuring employees clad in nothing but body paint



Passengers on the 7 a.m. flight from Auckland to Wellington got something a little different to shake them out of their early morning reverie : Air New Zealand’s first screening of a new in-flight safety video featuring staff members clad in nothing but body paint.


The 3-minute, 28-second clip, and a similar 45-second television ad introduced six weeks ago, take a tongue-in-cheek swipe at competing airlines, which Air New Zealand says often tack extra charges on their fares.


“At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide,” the slogan goes. “Which is why the price you pay includes everything — up front.”


But the new effort to promote, er, transparency is not as revealing you would think, or perhaps even hope. Yes, cabin crew, a pilot and baggage handlers — one of whom is played by the company’s buff chief executive, Rob Fyfe — don immaculate uniforms of mere paint. But seatbelts, luggage and life vests are always positioned to conceal where appropriate.


The mundane “undo the seatbelt by lifting the flap” may never have received such rapt attention as it now gets on this airline’s domestic flights.



The clips — complete with a cheerful soundtrack of “Under My Skin,” by a New Zealand singer, Gin Wigmore — provide unusual light-heartedness in an industry that has been savaged by drastic drop-offs in passenger numbers and air freight.



Around the world, airlines — including Air New Zealand — have had to cut flights, staff and investment plans.


And some, like Air New Zealand, have gone that little bit further in the quest for visibility and passenger loyalty.


But they have “never stopped being innovative and nimble,” he said.



Last year, the airline paid people to shave their heads and wear temporary tattoos that said, “Need a change? Head down to New Zealand.”


This year’s cheeky ad campaign and the video, “Bare Essentials of Safety,” introduced Monday, have received the attention Air New Zealand was hoping for.


The “Nothing To Hide” ad clip has been viewed nearly two million times on YouTube — the most-viewed clip ever to come out of New Zealand.



Each clip took a day to shoot and cost about 10 to 15 percent of the cost of a major brand commercial.



As for the Air New Zealand staff members, they got no extra cash — just a moment in the spotlight.