Air Transport

Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) from the Air New Zealand (ANZ) Airbus A320 that crashed in France last week were badly damaged and will be sent to the manufacturer for an attempt at data recovery, according to the airline.

ANZ says in a statement that "it is now clear both it [the FDR] and the cockpit voice recorder have been badly damaged. These will be sent to manufacturer Honeywell in North America to determine what data can be extracted".

The A320 crashed into water on 27 November while conducting a pre-delivery circuit flight from Perpignan. The aircraft had been on lease to Germany's XL Airways and ANZ was preparing to take it back. All seven people on board are presumed to have died in the crash, which occurred as the aircraft was returning to the airport.

The CVR was recovered at the weekend and the FDR was recovered overnight. It was originally reported by ANZ that the CVR appeared to be in good condition.

ANZ says a third body was located overnight by search and rescue divers, who also located the cockpit of the A320. The airline adds that "French authorities have made it clear that they intend to continue the search and recovery operation until all bodies are found".