KEY POINTS:
Word of the Perpignan crash would have ripped through Air New Zealand like wildfire. It is one of the unique aspects of the tightness of the company that news of incidents is felt by all those working with, or aligned, to the airline.
As information filtered out, staff
would have continued to deliver what is a world-class product - in a quiet and controlled manner. As and when required, work colleagues would have taken time out to reflect on information which came to hand.
The nature of the A320 crash and images of an aircraft tail lying in the Mediterranean Sea, and those of the koru tail lying on Antarctic ice, provokes comparisons between the two tragedies. That both accidents happened on the same November day just fuels the imagination.
Drawing parallels has to be done cautiously with Erebus and flight TE901. The first was a commercial operation to a remote area and 257 crew and passengers perished. In the second, off the coast of Perpignan the impact is lessened, if this can be the case, with fare-paying passengers not being involved.
Obviously Air New Zealand has matured from dealing with a number of incidents, and chief executive Rob Fyfe and his crisis team have been exceptional in handling the incident. They quickly communicated with their staff - enabling them to continue to effectively run the airline.
Family members of the victims were contacted personally by Fyfe and on Friday he attended three press conferences to inform the public of developments - Fyfe and his advisers realising first and foremost the significance of this tragedy on Kiwis, and their reputation as a business.
This is a far cry from the events which surrounded Erebus. While these are different situations, Air New Zealand in 1979 was a company where senior management lived in terror of public and media scrutiny about their business.
A photograph taken by Ross Land of then chief executive Morrie Davis sitting alone at the boardroom table, remains today as a telling component of Air New Zealand's performance at the time of Erebus. He was alone, anguished and looking confused.
That image told more than there was a DC10 missing - as time progressed many negative details were to emerge in regards to TE901 and Air New Zealand's performance.
Since 1979, chief executives have realised the impact Air New Zealand's public image has on its reputation in a global marketplace. Handling the fall-out from this tragedy from the company's perspective will be more important than the crash. That is why Rob Fyfe has travelled to France to oversee what happens next.
* John Freer is a former head of media relations for Air New Zealand
