Etihad's 'Fast & Furious 777' now flying between Abu Dhabi and L.A.

Actor/director Vin Diesel was at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday to welcome Etihad Airways Flight 171 from Abu Dhabi and promote Fast & Furious 7, the newest addition to the popular The Fast and the Furious action film franchise.

The film premieres in Los Angeles on April 1 and begins showing in theaters on April 3.

The Boeing 777 that Diesel greeted and posed with has been dubbed the "Fast & Furious 777" and arrived bearing a giant Furious 7 logo that will remain on the plane for the next four to six months while its flies the direct route between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles.

In addition to Vin Diesel, Furious 7 features many scenes that were shot on location in Etihad Airways' home base of Abu Dhabi, including in the Liwa Desert, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Emirates Palace hotel, the Yas Marina F1 race circuit and the Etihad Towers.

"When we began filming The Fast and the Furious in 2000, if you told me that we would one day have our logo on a wide-body jet, I would have said you were crazy," said film series producer Neal Moritz in a statement.

Diesel isn't the only major actor helping Etihad promote its products. This week the airline rolled out a campaign starring Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, who is serving at Etihad's global brand ambassador.

Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and Paste BN Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Follow her at twitter.com/hbaskas.