Hobbit-themed eagle sculptures to depart New Zealand airport

For more than a decade, travelers at New Zealand’s Wellington Airport have been greeted by two Hobbit-themed sculptures of giant, hovering eagles, one of which carried wizard Gandalf.

Suspended from the roof by cables, the two towering figures were unveiled in 2013 to promote director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” and Hobbit films, which were filmed in New Zealand over 15 years.

Each eagle weighs more than a ton and has a 50-foot wingspan, with a total of 1,000 feathers. The majestic birds originally served as rescuers and fighters in the fantasy adventure films, which are based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The pair will say their last goodbye to visitors Friday and “fly off into the sunset,” making space for a new display, the airport said Monday.

The eagles’ departure will be “the end of an era,” Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke said.

“It’s not unusual to see airborne departures from Wellington Airport,” Clarke said in a statement. “But in this case, it will be emotional for us.”

Though the sculptures have been a “huge success,” admired by travelers from around the world, it’s the “right time for them to fly the nest,” he added.

Some travelers said they were saddened by the birds’ departure.

“It breaks my heart,” Verity Johnson told The Associated Press on Monday as she sat beneath a grasping eagle claw in the food court.

“Please reconsider. Please bring them back, make them stay,” she said.

Another passenger, Michael Parks, said taking the eagles away would be “un-New Zealand.”

The eagles will be disassembled overnight Friday and placed into storage. The long-term plans for them are still to be decided.

They were made by Wellington-based Wētā Workshop, which created tens of thousands of props for Jackson’s films, including armor, prosthetics, miniatures and weaponry.

One of them fell down when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand’s North Island in 2014, but no one was injured, according to The New Zealand Herald.

The airport is working with Wētā Workshop on a “unique, locally themed replacement” for the eagles, Clarke said, to be revealed this year.

The magnificent New Zealand scenery showcased in the movies has drawn millions of international tourists, with the airport’s eagle sculptures turning into an iconic feature.

The films generated more than $770 million in international tourism revenue for New Zealand, contributing to a welfare gain of over $180 million for the country’s households, research found.

Another sculpture of Smaug the Magnificent — the great dragon that torments Bilbo Baggins and his fellow travelers — will remain in the check-in area, where it was installed in 2014.