After last week’s crash of an Air New Zealand-owned Airbus A320, and the loss of four Air New Zealand employees who were on board, the airline is postponing its biofuel test flight which was due to take place on Wednesday 3 December, and also the pre-flight briefing on Tuesday 2 December, to early January 2009.

Investigators are looking at whether a paint job may have been the reason an Air New Zealand Airbus plunged into the sea, killing seven people. Two bodies have recovered from the crash scene in the Mediterranean Sea off France but five are believed to be still trapped in the fuselage of the four-year-old Airbus A320.

The company said that its full efforts and resources will be focused over the coming days on providing support to the family members of the missing New Zealanders and to its people, and assisting in the investigation of the A320 accident in France.

Air New Zealand will advise of the new date for the biofuel test flight later in the week.

That lost aircraft was owned by Air New Zealand and had been on lease to XL Airways of Germany for the past two years. The aircraft was being flown by XL Airways to Frankfurt where it was due to be handed back to Air New Zealand for a ferry flight back to New Zealand. The missing Air New Zealand staff were on board the aircraft as observers during a pre-acceptance flight before its return to Air New Zealand.