An Air New Zealand Boeing 737 cockpit nose has been installed outside Canterbury Museum next to the Botanic Gardens as part of the airline’s 75th anniversary exhibition.

Visitors will be able to sit behind the plane’s controls in the pilot and co-pilot seats, entering the flight deck in small groups from steps in the Botanic Gardens. The cockpit nose opens to the public from Friday 3 February, 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily, weather permitting.

Air New Zealand General Manager Global Brand & Content Marketing Jodi Williams says the cockpit nose has proven to be a much photographed attraction at the Air New Zealand 75 Years: Our Nation. The World. Connected exhibition.

“We’ve had nearly 170,000 people take up our invitation to ‘pose with the nose’ while the cockpit was on display as part of the exhibition which debuted at Te Papa in the capital and featured at the Auckland War Memorial Museum before arriving at Canterbury Museum in September last year. More than 900,000 people have now visited the exhibition across the three cities.”

Canterbury Museum Director Anthony Wright says the Air New Zealand exhibition is proving very popular and has certainly been the major factor in attracting record visitor numbers each month since it opened in September.

“We’ve had excellent visitor numbers in January with large numbers of tourists, locals and visitors from throughout the South Island coming to see the exhibition. The Boeing 737 cockpit nose will be a great addition to the exhibition experience.”

The cockpit nose was transported by truck from the Aviation Training Institute near Christchurch International Airport to the museum in the city centre in the early hours of Monday morning.

Air New Zealand 75 Years: Our Nation. The World. Connected runs until Sunday 26 March 2017. The cockpit nose will be open to the public throughout.