Wellington - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on
Thursday apologized to the families of the 257 people who died when
an Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight crashed into Mount
Erebus on Ross Island on 29 November 1979.
"After forty years, on behalf of today's government, the time has
come to apologize for the actions of an airline then in full state
ownership; which ultimately caused the loss of the aircraft and the
loss of those you loved," Ardern said at a service for the families
in Auckland.
Air New Zealand board chair Therese Walsh also apologized.
"I apologize on behalf of an airline which 40 years ago failed in its
duty of care to its passengers and staff," she said.
"And I apologize again on behalf of the airline for the way in which
the families of those lost on Mt Erebus were treated in the aftermath
of the accident," she added.
The plane's pilots were blamed for the accident in an initial report
but a Royal Commission of Inquiry found in 1981 that the dominant
cause of the accident was the airline's actions in reprogramming the
aircraft's navigation system without advising the aircrew.
"The pilots were not responsible for this tragedy, I stand here today
to state that again," Ardern said.
"But those findings were not accepted by our government then. That
was wrong, it caused trauma on top of grief, and persecution on top
of pain."
It is the first time the government and airline issued apologies to
the families.