Air tragedies remembered in NZ, Antarctica and France

Family members pay their tributes at the Erebus Crew Memorial Garden at Auckland Airport today. Photo / NZPA

Memorial services were held in three parts of the world today to commemorate two Air New Zealand tragedies separated by 29 years.

Services were conducted in Auckland and Christchurch to remember the 30th anniversary of the Mt Erebus disaster in Antarctica and the loss a year ago of an aircraft off the south of France.

The Erebus tragedy, in which all 257 people on board a DC10 sightseeing flight from Auckland perished, was also marked at Scott Base.

A service at the base was scheduled to be followed by a ceremony at the base's flagpole at 12.50pm, the moment when Flight TE901 slammed into the foothills of the mountain.

The ceremony - involving a prayer, a period of silence and the laying of a wreath of roses - was being attended by six people who lost relatives in the crash.

The six - among them Pip Collins, daughter of the pilot, Captain Jim Collins - were drawn by ballot to fly on a US Air Force C10 cargo plane for the event.

They took with them a koru-shaped capsule containing messages from families and water from Aoraki-Mt Cook.

The water, gifted by Ngai Tahu, represents both the tears of a nation and the hope of a new beginning.

Yesterday, they flew over the crash site, but could not land because of high winds and will try again on Monday.

Earlier today, a ceremony was held in France to commemorate the first anniversary of the crash of an Air NZ Airbus.

The A320, which had been leased to German company XL Airways, was undergoing trials before being handed back to Air NZ.

During the flight, it plunged into the sea, claiming the lives of the five New Zealanders and two Germans on board.

About 20 relatives of the New Zealanders travelled to France for the commemoration.

At 3am (NZ time), they, colleagues of the men and officials from the city of Perpignan, attended the unveiling a greenstone plaque on the seawall at Canet-en-Rousillon.

They then travelled by naval vessel to the accident site, where wreaths were laid on the water for each of the seven men.

At 4.46am, the exact time of the crash, the boat's horn sounded seven times.

At the Auckland service, held in a courtyard in the company headquarters, chief executive Rob Fyfe again praised the French coastguard, police and others involved the aftermath of the incident.

"Air NZ will forever be indebted to those who faced extreme weather and sea conditions as they fought their way to the site immediately following the impact and for the subsequent efforts to recover our men and to search for clues as to what caused the accident," he said.

In reference to Erebus, Mr Fyfe repeated his apology of last month to those who had lost family members but did not receive the support and compassion they should have from the company in the days, months and years that followed.

"The airline made mistakes and undoubtedly let down people affected by the tragedy," he told several hundred packed in the courtyard.

"That weighs heavily on me as the current chief executive."

He said one of the key lessons from Erebus was that nothing could turn the clock back or alter what caused an accident.

"But where we can make a difference is how we support those who suffer unimaginable loss of a dad, husband, partner, uncle, brother, son, colleague or best friend in tragic circumstances."

- NZPA