Dubbed The Festival in the Sky, the normal in-flight entertainment - including a light snack, a drink, a movie and your choice of radio stations - was ditched for the 2hr 35min it took to fly to Queenstown.
Instead, scenes on board conjured up memories of the movie Soul Plane.
On entering the cabin, passengers were first greeted by New Zealand comedians Justine Smith and Simon McKinney, who hails from Dunedin.
Smith took on the alter ego of Trolly Dolly Molly, while McKinney masqueraded as the Captain of the flight.
With booming music pumping out of the speakers inside the cabin, it was clear this was not going to be your run-of-the-mill international flight.
It started with a safety briefing by the Air New Zealand flight attendants, and a hilarious safety briefing from Smith.
"Captain McKinney" announced this was "not a normal flight", adding "feel free to break-dance".
While passengers managed to restrain themselves from breakdancing, there was more than a fair share of toe-tapping as Kiwi rockers Goodnight Nurse performed two live sets.
A multichoice quiz saw several people leave the flight with tickets to events and clothing vouchers - while everybody knew Richie McCaw was the captain of the All Blacks, one Australian thought "Captain Kangaroo" discovered New Zealand.
Another set from Goodnight Nurse was followed by a comic interlude from McKinney who had the entire plane in stitches before landing.
It is not the first time Air New Zealand has themed a flight.
It most recently put on a flight from Auckland to the MTV Music Awards and previously a Sydney to Auckland flight for Air New Zealand Fashion Week, in which the aisle turned into a runway.
Air New Zealand marketing and communications manager Andrew Stanbury, of Sydney, said the purpose of the flight was two-fold - launching the 2008 American Express Queenstown Winter Festival and the winter season to Australians.
The flight was also the first of Air New Zealand's five direct Sydney to Queenstown flights for the winter season and the "beefing up" of the services also included three direct flights each from Melbourne and Brisbane each week during the winter months.
While the flights were about beginning the winter season for those across the Tasman, Air New Zealand had taken the opportunity to showcase its innovation, Mr Stanbury said.
"There's a degree of sameness about airlines. [This] is a great way for us to say a couple of things. One is that we're prepared to be different.
"New Zealand is our home, we're proud of it and we really want to find new ways of promoting it."
