Video: Airport hosts biggest visitor

The chartered Boeing 767-300 touches down at Dunedin International Airport on Saturday morning.Photo by Gerard O'Brien
The chartered Boeing 767-300 touches down at Dunedin International Airport on Saturday morning.Photo by Gerard O'Brien
The largest aircraft to land at Dunedin International Airport - an Air New Zealand 767-300 chartered by the Exclusive Brethren - touched down on Saturday morning.  The sizeable visitor - capable of carrying 230 passengers - landed from the south about 8.15am, and needed only half the 1900m runway to pull up before taxiing to the terminal building.

It was on the ground for less than an hour while collecting 167 members of the Exclusive Brethren, who were whisked away at 9am for a church event further north, the Otago Daily Times was told.

Airport chief executive John McCall confirmed the 767-300 was largest aircraft to land at the airport, beating previous visits by a Royal Brunei Airlines 767-200 and a United States military C 141 used for Antarctic operations.

Dunedin's airport was more than capable of handling the aircraft, even though it could not depart fully›laden with passengers, cargo and fuel, he said.

The flight came amid reports the Exclusive Brethren's world leader, Bruce Hale, from Australia, was in Marlborough for a church event over the weekend. An Air NewZealand spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about the flight.

 

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