Pero puts Erebus flight on hold

Mike Pero has postponed plans for an Erebus memorial flight after the airline criticised the Christchurch businessman.

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Mr Pero said yesterday he would charter a Boeing 747 in January for 307 people who wished to travel to Antarctica to pay their respects to the victims of New Zealand's worst air disaster.

Late today Mr Pero said issues with Qantas crewing the flight had postponed the trip.

"So that means this stage the best thing I believe that everyone should do is just let the dust settle and address this maybe next week," he told Radio New Zealand.

"If ... the supplier of the aircraft just don't want to be involved in this matter, it's obviously turned into a can of worms."

Mr Pero said he hoped to form common ground with Air NZ and the families, then readdress the plan.

It was always his intention to respect the families' wishes, he said.

There was only ever one flight planned with the priority to fill it with family members.

He felt he had been persecuted.

"I don't want to do this any more. I was just out there with the best intentions and now it's turned right round.

"All I was trying to do was facilitate what I believed were the wishes of the families.

"I didn't want all this at all."

Air NZ yesterday slammed Mr Pero's plan as "opportunistic" and timed to cash in on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy in which 257 passengers and crew died.

Earlier today it said it had been in touch with him and offered to facilitate contact with victims' families so he could "better understand [the families'] wishes, preferences and perspectives".

Air New Zealand Group General Manager, International Airline, Ed Sims said: "I made it clear to Mike that Air New Zealand has no objection to charter flights to Antarctica but on this occasion we were disturbed that there has been no formal consultation with the families of the 257 people lost or with Air New Zealand.

Mr Sims said "more than 40 families" had written to Air New Zealand expressing concern over the timing of the charter announcement.

Earlier Mr Pero said Air New Zealand's comments that his plan was "opportunistic" had left him "deeply disappointed and hurt".

He said the airline gave him no negative feedback about plans to charter a flight to Antarctica for friends and family of Erebus victims and he said he even ran the idea past Prime Minister John Key.

"Somewhere in the airline something has been misconstrued."

He said he had spoken with the company about his proposal in the last few days.

"It was a pleasant conversation and there was absolutely no suggestion that it was distasteful or disrespectful. In fact I suggested they may like to consider having representation on the flight."

Mr Pero said he also sent a text message to Mr Key for his thoughts and to see if he would he be interested in being on the flight.

His response was: "Hi Mike. In principle that might work. Would be great if it did."

"From that response I thought it seemed logical to proceed," Mr Pero said.

A statement from the Prime Minister's office said: "The PM received a text message from Mike Pero asking if he would be available to go on a flight, on a Qantas A380, to Antarctica on January 31. The PM wasn't aware of his schedule on that day so he responded that it might work. He added it would be great if it did. That was the full extent of any correspondence between the PM and Mike Pero."

Air New Zealand is taking a limited number of family members on a memorial flight to Antarctica this Saturday on board a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane.

Victims' families were upset when the airline's plans were revealed, as only five representatives were able to be included, with names drawn from a ballot.

Mr Pero said his plans were not a PR stunt or intended for personal gain. He has offered to pay any nett proceeds to Air New Zealand's own charity, Koru Care.

"There was nothing in it for me from the start," he told Radio New Zealand this morning.

Mr Pero said he was "not an airline and I don't ever want to be one."

"I'd prefer Air New Zealand take this role as I'm busy in other areas - reality is, it's probably very difficult for the airline to be seen operating in the region again."

He said he was "totally bewildered" by the airline's earlier response but was willing to work with them to resolve any issues.

Mr Pero said he had joined the venture, with company Antarctica Sightseeing Flights, he been under the impression that he would have "overwhelming" public support for the flight.

He had spoken with members of the public, including a family member of someone who was killed in the fatal flight.

"I would never have done this for any other reason. What have I got to gain by [offending] people."

He had "no idea" whether the flight would be an ongoing charter venture or a one-off.

"If they [Antarctica Sightseeing Flights] thought it was a doer they might continue to do it," he said.

Mr Pero said he had spoken with Air New Zealand general manager of public affairs Mike Tod yesterday and had received a positive response, something Mr Tod has denied in a statement.

Tickets will cost between $1400 and $8600, depending on seating preferences, and there had already been a lot of interest, Mr Pero said.

The flight, likely to be a chartered Qantas jet, would fly out of Auckland on around January 31, Antarctica Sightseeing Flights managing director Phil Asker told Radio New Zealand.

It would take five hours to reach Mt Erebus and fly over the region for a couple of hours. The plane would not land.

Mr Asker said he doubted Mr Pero would make any money from the flight, but instead may be "staring down the barrel of a serious loss" as he would have to fill the aircraft with passengers.

- with MICHAEL FOX, Stuff.co.nz

- NZPA