Last week, Smaug got out of his cave and took a small vacation to Los Angeles, which also was just in time to celebrate the premiere of Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But how did he get there exactly? Well, the famed dragon teamed up with Air New Zealand of course, and flew across the Pacific, where he was welcomed at LAX airport by Jackson, two cast members from the film, and the New Zealand National Board of Tourism.

Okay that may be a bit too much, but to celebrate the release of the film, Air New Zealand completely transformed a seemingly normal Boeing 777, into the mythical dragon. Hit the jump to find out all the details of the plane, and some photos from the event, which we were able to attend.