After a reception at The Hills, including Champagne, canapes and a powhiri from Arrowtown children, the group from across the world was taken by bus to the Queenstown Gardens.
Although many international conferences descend on the resort every year, those involved in the annual Star Alliance conference - the second time it has been held in New Zealand - were treated to something other than dinner in a hotel.
Queenstown Gardens was the venue, and had a marquee erected for the occasion.
Guests were welcomed with a drink at the band rotunda, and a bite from the barbecue cooked by All Black captain Richie McCaw and Prime Minister John Key, both of whom were invited by Air New Zealand to attend the gala dinner.
Before dinner was served, the delegates and visiting media got a taste of Pasifika fashion in a special fashion show featuring outfits from the annual World of Wearable Art event in Wellington.
Air New Zealand head of public affairs Mark Streat said a group from the airline visited Queenstown earlier this year, "had a look around" and decided Queenstown Gardens was the best venue for the dinner, which involved about 200 invited guests.
"It's a lovely view; it's a different view.
"We like to do things a bit differently."
Mr Streat said the media contingent with the conference included journalists from Switzerland, Poland, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Asia, China and Thailand.
They were a mix of business, general and aviation journalists, including one television crew.
"The Swedish television crew is doing a bit of a spectrum: tourist stuff as well as news-related stuff."
He said the strong media presence would "undoubtedly" benefit Queenstown.
"Destination Queenstown has done a great job in helping us with the media itinerary."
The airlines involved in the Star Alliance have a combined turnover of nearly eight times New Zealand's GDP.
Their chief executives and deputy chief executives are at the conference, as are some communications personnel for all the airlines, Mr Streat said.
The conference ends today.
It combines both the chief executive and alliance management board meetings, covering key business decisions for the year ahead, including voting on membership development, financial expenditure, product development and marketing programmes.
Combined, the airlines of the Star Alliance employ more than 400,000 staff, operate 4000 aircraft and carry 623 million passengers every year.
The member airlines' combined annual turnover of $US153 billion ($NZ204 billion) represents about 30% of the aviation industry's total turnover.
Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 21,050 daily flights to 1167 airports in 181 countries.
