Flightless birds take to the skies
In another move in a longstanding partnership with New Zealand's department of conservation (DOC), which has seen Air New Zealand transport over 4,000 threatened species and conservation dogs that work to protect them around Aotearoa, the carrier recently helped fly 15 takahē from Invercargill (IVC) to Nelson (NSN).
Each flightless bird was housed in its own carrier and made honorary members of the company's "infrequent flyers" loyalty programme.
Meagan Schloeffel, head of sustainability: "Flying the takahē in our ATR aircraft is a really special way we can help DOC get these flightless birds safely to their new home. Increasing the numbers of takahē in the wild is a critical step towards once again having multiple takahē populations living in their natural South Island grassland habitats." (ah)