after initially refusing to release body to grieving whānau
Air New Zealand has apologised and promised to change its procedures after it took the 11th-hour intervention of its chief executive before it allowed a grieving woman to take home her mother’s remains to their marae.
Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.
Air NZ’s cargo operations crew had insisted that only a funeral director could uplift the late Maureen Delamere, despite the concerns of her daughter, Anahera Delamere-Mill, that would be a significant breach of tikanga.
Delamere-Mill was on the same flight home from Sydney as her mother, and wanted to personally escort her back to Maraenui marae in the eastern Bay of Plenty. The family affiliates to the East Coast iwi Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.
Air NZ only climbed down after chief executive Greg Foran intervened and apologised - as the plane was about to depart - and then ordered the airline to review its policy on repatriating bodies.
Link to article: Air NZ admits breach of tikanga after initially refusing to release body to grieving whānau | Stuff.co.nz
