An initial report into the crash of an Airbus A320 off France last year told only part of the story, Air New Zealand boss Rob Fyfe says.
Four Air New Zealand staff, a Civil Aviation Authority employee and two German pilots died when the Air New Zealand aircraft crashed into the sea off South France on November 27.
It was in the final stages of an acceptance flight before it was to be handed back to Air New Zealand, after a two-year lease to the German aviation company XL Airways.
The aircraft crashed during low-level manoeuvres on its final approach to Perpignan airport, French aviation investigators from the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) said today.
The test flight was shortened and the manoeuvres were originally planned to be undertaken at a higher altitude, but were done on the approach.
Mr Fyfe today said the initial BEA report told only part of the story and should not lead to premature conclusions.
The report "only partially outlines certain aspects of what occurred during the flight and not why the accident occurred", he said.
"There is a combination of failures that will contribute to the cause of any accident," he said.
The report provided "a small insight" into the failure of the number one and two stall warning vanes on the aircraft at 9753m (32,000ft) and selected information about activity in the cockpit.
"The excerpts that are in this report only give you glimpses of what happened at various stages and it doesn't give us enough detail to determine why this accident happened," he said.
The full report may not be completed for some time and would include a detailed analysis of "all factors that contributed to this tragic accident, so that any lessons learned can be shared across the industry".
After reading the report Mr Fyfe felt nothing that happened during the acceptance flight "gave any concern for the normal commercial operation of the A320 fleet which is an integral part of our operations and, indeed, for many airlines around the world".
"I believe that Air New Zealand and its experts should be allowed to contribute their insights and knowledge into the BEA investigation, a fact I will be raising again with the BEA and New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) as well as New Zealand Transport Minister Steven Joyce later this morning," he said.
Mr Fyfe said he was disappointed the embargoed report was made public before it was made available to Air New Zealand and the families who lost their loved ones.
The German pilots had not been publicly named.
The last New Zealand body was recovered only last month.
Air New Zealand staff killed were Brian Horrell, 52, Murray White, 37, an Auckland engineer, Michael Gyles, 49, and Noel Marsh, 35, both from Christchurch.
Civil Aviation Authority inspector Jeremy Cook, 58, from Wellington was the other New Zealand victim.
Mr Fyfe said the airline had not had access to the flight recorders so the airline's specialists have not had the chance to provide any assistance to interpret why certain actions occurred in the cockpit.
He said he would complain to the director of the investigation and to the French Ministry of Transport about the way the report was released, which he said breached protocol.
