Richard Simmons + Air New Zealand = Best In-Flight Safety Video Ever

Never have we been so excited about putting our tray tables in the full upright and locked position.

In this brand-new spot produced for Air New Zealand, you’ll see the usual suspects: There are the attractive, diverse, impeccably groomed flight attendants; the mild-anxiety-inducing notifications about life vests and air masks; the admonitions to search for the nearest exit.

But those warnings and instructions do seem to come off a lot less mild-anxiety-inducing when set to thumping techno, bathed in multi-colored lights, and chirped out by the ever-perky Richard Simmons, health and fitness guru extraordinaire, who stars in the video and is accompanied by dancing extras à la the Sweatin’ to the Oldies series.

You’ll want to keep an eye out for 2:38, where Simmons, after chiding a gadget geek about his use of electronics, plants a smooch on said geek’s cheek. Too cute.

Air New Zealand is calling the vid a “RichRoll” and positioning itself as the kind of “high-energy airline” that can stand up to a video of this caliber. The spot was produced by by .99, Air New Zealand’s chief creative agency.

We’ve been relieved and excited by the trend toward less boring, less traditional in-flight videos since Delta’s slightly tongue-in-cheek vid popped up on planes in the spring of 2008. We’ve also been digging Virgin’s amusing in-flight-safety video. How do you think the Simmons spot measures up?

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