| Airbus A320 reliable aircraft / aviation expert |
The Air New Zealand aircraft which crashed into the Mediterranean last week was less than 4 years old.
The aircraft flew for a year with Freedom Air, an Air New Zealand subsidiary, before it was leased to a German aviation company, XL Airways, 2 years ago.
Two XL Aviation pilots were at the controls of the aircraft when it crashed. A senior Air New Zealand captain from Auckland, 2 airline engineers from Christchurch and an engineer from Auckland, and a Civil Aviation Authority inspector were also on board.
The aircraft had been in the air for 2 hours on an acceptance flight before it was handed back to Air New Zealand later this week when it crashed.
Air New Zealand said it had access to the German company's maintenance records and it had no worries about any aspects of the aircraft's performance in the last few years.
It carried about 150 passengers, 6 wide with a central aisle.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said the A320 was "one of the most reliable and safest" aircraft in the world. "We have a very good safety record for airline operations here in New Zealand," he said.
"If you look at the figures, the broad Oceania area is rated as the safest place for large jet aircraft, and it has for many years."
Air New Zealand had 13 Airbus A320 aircraft in its fleet, said chief executive Rob Fyfe.
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