Six relatives of victims of the 1979 disaster, in which 257 passengers and crew were killed, are due to fly to Scott Base today, before heading to the mountain in a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane for a commemorative service tomorrow.
On Wednesday, Mr Pero said he would charter a Boeing 747 in January for those relatives who wished to travel to Antarctica to pay their respects.
"The aircraft will not land but will spend a couple of hours in the region," he said.
That provoked a furious response from Air NZ, which has organised Saturday's commemorations.
"The airline finds his announcement three days prior to the anniversary of the tragedy to be nothing more than commercial opportunism of the lowest kind and deeply disrespectful," it said.
The two parties met yesterday and the anger softened, but Mr Pero said his plans were on hold because of crewing difficulties.
He initially seemed disillusioned, telling Radio New Zealand "I don't want to do this any more." But he later told TV1's Close-Up he thought a flight could still be organised before February, after which weather conditions would rule it out.
"To be honest, I think it could still be resolved. I think it would be good if someone from the Government stepped in and said let's resolve this. Air NZ should be involved in it.
"I'm happy to work with them, it is all still do-able but we have until February 16 to get an aircraft down there."
Mr Pero said he was hurt by accusations he was trying to cash in on the grief of victims' relatives.
"People who know me well know better than that. I'm astounded."
He said he was trying to help out relatives who wanted to go to the region and was not in it for the money.
"I have nothing to gain out of this, there is absolutely no margin, profit or anything in it for me."
Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe said he was personally upset by Mr Pero's sudden plans. "I have been dealing up to 40 to 50 emails a day for the last couple of months with families and I've tried to build a relationship of trust and do the very best we can for the families," he told Campbell Live.
"I've talked to family members and they were deeply disturbed...that someone was preying on their grief and I felt personally quite hurt by that and I guess I reacted in a way that reflected the feelings of the families that were being expressed.
"No wants controversy. There has been controversy around this issue for 30 years and I was trying to get through the weekend without more controversy and I just feel really disappointed that the families yet again are being dragged into something not of their making."
