Air NZ Erebus apology 'proper thing to do'

The Erebus memorial. Photo / Supplied

The man who apologised to families who lost loved ones in the Cave Creek disaster says Air New Zealand should have apologised over the Erebus air crash years ago.

Conservation Department director Hugh Logan said there were many parallels between Cave Creek and the 1979 crash.

"It's never too late and it could still be done now," Mr Logan told the North & South magazine.

"It would be welcomed and it would be a wise thing to do and the proper thing to do," Mr Logan said.

Fourteen people died in the Cave Creek disaster in April 1995 when a DoC platform they were standing on gave way.

Mr Logan used the 10 year anniversary of the disaster to apologise to families and there are reports that Air New Zealand plans to use the 30th anniversary of the Erebus disaster to do something similar.

Two hundred and fifty-seven people died when the airline's DC-10 crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica during a sightseeing flight on November 28, 1979. The airline has not apologised for the deaths, thirty years on.

In a recent letter to victims' families, chief executive Rob Fyfe told them it was his involvement with the aftermath of the Airbus A320 crash off the Mediterranean coast on November 28 last year, in which four Air New Zealand staff died, which made him "reflect on many of the gaps and failings that occurred in the days, months and years after November 28, 1979".

Mr Fyfe will make the apology at the unveiling of a sculpture at the airline's head office in Auckland next Friday, the Dominion Post reported.

It is understood he will not go as far as apologising for the accident itself or the subsequent controversial investigations.

Air New Zealand said Mr Fyfe would "speak directly about the lessons learned from the Erebus tragedy and the way in which the airline interacted with the families in the aftermath of the accident".

Jackie Nankervis, who was 15 when she lost her father and uncle in the accident, said an apology would be "a step in the right direction".

Although financial compensation was paid, most families felt there had been a lack of communication and emotional support, she said.

These days, disaster victims received support, including counselling and constant communication. In 1979, there was nothing in place to meet the families' needs.

Air New Zealand's only direct contact with her family immediately after the accident was a bunch of flowers to her mother.

"The police did everything else."

Mr Fyfe said the most important immediate response to Perpignan was to support the families of the victims and learn from the flight safety lessons. Laying blame was not helpful. French investigators have indicated another report on the Perpignan crash could be made public before Christmas.

- NZPA with NZHERALD STAFF