Aussies honour our pioneer of the skies

The Qantas Boeing 737-800 will fly transtasman routes from next month. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Jean Batten is being honoured on the side of an Australian plane.

A century after her birth and amid debate over how our most famous pilot has been recognised, Qantas will today celebrate naming one of its new transtasman aircraft after her.

Another of the airline's Boeing 737-800 aircraft is named after writer Katherine Mansfield and a third after Nelson-born engineer Sir William Hudson, who was in charge of Australia's Snowy Mountains hydro scheme. The airline said the three were pioneers who took their skills and unique culture of New Zealand to the world.

Twenty-two Batten family members will gather at Auckland Airport with relatives of Sir William and Katherine Mansfield Society representatives to mark the honour.

Jean Batten's nephew, Jim Batten, said he and his family were chuffed that the transtasman fleet's flagship has been named after her.

He'd been ribbed by a friend about Qantas "doing a Phar Lap" but he didn't mind.

"I'm very proud - I think if she was living today she'd be proud of it."

The 85-year-old recalls listening on the radio as she landed in Auckland on October 27, 1936, after her record-breaking flight from Britain. The final leg was from Sydney.

Jean Batten has been honoured in several ways in New Zealand, notably having Auckland Airport's international terminal named after her. But there have been questions over how she has been remembered including from a Howick history group upset at a camellia tree planted in her memory being moved for a new building.

Jim Batten says the family feels this country's got it about right: "I think she has been honoured. The fact that she left New Zealand and didn't come back has got to have a bearing on it."

The 168-seat aircraft will progressively start flying routes on the Tasman from the middle of next month.