Editorial: The day the airline stood still

OPINION: To paraphrase Shakespeare, the airline doth protest too much, methinks.

It's one thing to drop the ball in the face of human tragedy; it's quite another to have someone else pick it up and run with it by doing what you should have done in the first place.

No wonder Air New Zealand is seething over businessman Mike Pero's offer to charter a plane to take the families of Erebus victims south to Antarctica.

The airline may have performed a bit of a backflip in its later offer to help put Mr Pero in contact with the affected families, but it is clear that it is still angry that someone would continue to highlight its own abject failure to help the victims' loved ones find closure.

Yes, Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe has apologised for the pain and hurt caused not only by the accident but the company's poor treatment of those left behind in the 30 years since flight TE901 slammed into Mt Erebus, killing all 257 aboard.

But it appears many of the people he was addressing would happily have traded the dinky sculpture Air NZ commissioned to honour the dead for an opportunity to fly over the frozen continent and to get some sense of where their fallen family members died.

And certainly more than the five family members `lucky' enough to win a seat on the United States Air Force C-17 for a memorial flight.

Mr Pero is to be congratulated for taking the initiative and filling the yawning gap so obviously left by the airline.

And his motives appear beyond reproach given that he could possibly end up paying out of his own pocket if the charter is not popular. If it is well backed by family members, then he has agreed to pass the proceeds on to Air NZ's own charity, Koru Care. How that one must sting at the airline's headquarters.

Frankly, who cares if Mr Pero's offer to help family members find closure also helps him find a higher profile, not that he needs it.

As we pointed out in an editorial earlier this week, people who put their bodies and reputations on the line deserve our attention and respect; success or failure, they take that risk of endeavour on their shoulders.

So we wish Mr Pero all the best in his bid to help others.

But we leave the last word to Air NZ.

In its later, more conciliatory stance towards Mr Pero, the airline said it would help him get in touch with the families so he could "better understand [the families'] wishes, preferences and perspectives". It looks like he doesn't need much help with that one. He's already well on the way.