The consequences of the disaster were significant. The obvious consequence of course was the loss of 257 lives, but the controversy that followed the disaster was also a major consequence as instead of the spotlight being on comforting the grieving family members of the deceased, it was passed onto who was the blame for the incident.
The situation following the disaster showed the consequences on the families as they felt they had not been treated properly, especially after losing their loved ones where they were offered no sympathy, and this sparked outrage in many. The families were notified of any updates through the media, hearing of the news along with the rest of the country, showing the lack of attention to the families. The whole nation was rocked and even from those who didn’t know the victims personally were in grieving, as it was New Zealand’s worst aviation disaster. As they were continuously fed updates as the search and rescue investigation was occurring, the country was divided, as there were many opposing opinions, based on the information they had heard. This disaster would have been a tragedy in any country, but as New Zealand had a small population of 3 million, “the horror was doubly felt”. Almost everybody had an association with the deceased, or knew someone who did, and the majority of the passengers as well as all the crew members on board were all from New Zealand, hitting home hard. The disaster also affected New Zealand socially because there were 24 Japanese, 10 Americas, two British and an Australian on board among the New Zealanders. This was then broadcasted worldwide, and more attention was brought to the situation, and furthermore damaging Air New Zealand’s “safe” reputation, as the criticism was on a global scale.
The situation following the disaster showed the consequences on the families as they felt they had not been treated properly, especially after losing their loved ones where they were offered no sympathy, and this sparked outrage in many. The families were notified of any updates through the media, hearing of the news along with the rest of the country, showing the lack of attention to the families. The whole nation was rocked and even from those who didn’t know the victims personally were in grieving, as it was New Zealand’s worst aviation disaster. As they were continuously fed updates as the search and rescue investigation was occurring, the country was divided, as there were many opposing opinions, based on the information they had heard. This disaster would have been a tragedy in any country, but as New Zealand had a small population of 3 million, “the horror was doubly felt”. Almost everybody had an association with the deceased, or knew someone who did, and the majority of the passengers as well as all the crew members on board were all from New Zealand, hitting home hard. The disaster also affected New Zealand socially because there were 24 Japanese, 10 Americas, two British and an Australian on board among the New Zealanders. This was then broadcasted worldwide, and more attention was brought to the situation, and furthermore damaging Air New Zealand’s “safe” reputation, as the criticism was on a global scale.
It seemed as though Air New Zealand were really only thinking about how the incident was being played out to the rest of country. This was then casting a bad light onto Air New Zealand, whom was losing business and popularity through this ordeal, and their reputation was quickly diminishing, as it seemed they were continuously making bad moves. The tourist flights to Antarctica were popular and were a huge economic benefit to the Air New Zealand Company, as they were the only airline to make sightseeing flights to the Antarctic and around McMurdo Sound. However after the incident, the flights were immediately stopped, and even to this day Air New Zealand has never continued the flights, instead being passed onto Qantas who took over the flights at a limited basis in 1994. This was another consequence on Air New Zealand as they lost business and income, as one of their most popular flights was stopped. The airlines advertising agents in New Zealand and overseas cancelled space bookings in magazines and newspapers. Television commercials and radio spots were withdrawn and posters were torn down in travel agents and airline booking offices. Any site that promoted or advertised the airline were taken away, as Air New Zealand was involved in a lot of scandal during this time, and were being portrayed very bad to the public, decreasing their economic value.
Air New Zealand’s reputation also decreased especially in court when Mahon accused of Air New Zealand of lying and covering up evidence, commonly known as “the orchestrated litany of lies” which he famously accused the company of in court. They did not make a public apology and continuously stuck by their word, not accepting they were in the wrong nor deserved to be blamed for the incident, even though a lot of the causes were aimed at the companies mistakes. This was a major mistake on Air New Zealand’s behalf, and very selfish on their part, as after all 257 lives were killed on their airline, so a level of responsibility should be held to remain proffessional, regardless if the crash was solely their fault or not. Also Air New Zealand made a habit of not telling the deceased families about any news that were coming through during the investigation, or notifying them about the flights to Antartica so that they had a chance to see the resting place of their loved ones and to have “a final goodbye”. This angered many of the passengers families, as they continuously kept on making bad judgements when it came to expressing emotion towards the families, which ultimately didn’t happen. The families were generally notified of any updates through the media, which understandably would upset many of the victims families, as it was very insensitive, and even more so confirmed that Air New Zealand cared more about how the media were portraying them to the public, then taking care of the people personally effected by the tragedy.
Considering the scale of the investigation and the disaster there were many consequences that were a result of it. The family members of the deceased were not given the support and attention from the Air New Zealand company, nor recognition for their brave efforts at fighting for justice and to find a resolution. The spotlight was cast on who was to blame, rather than what they could do to make the situation better, and give help to those in need. Up until 30 years after the accident when Air New Zealand made an official apology to those involved in the disaster for the lack of comfort and support on their behalf, the years before that were excruciating for the public, especially the pilots family members, who had to live with the blame on the pilots, whom they knew were experienced and well regarded within their industry.