Wellington - Air New Zealand criticized Wednesday the handling of a preliminary report by French investigators into a crash of one of its Airbus planes in the Mediterranean that blamed crew error.

New Zealand investigators also said a low-altitude stall which happened before the A320 plane crashed into the sea off Perpignan in southern France could not happen under normal flying operations.

The two German pilots and five New Zealanders performing in-flight checks before returning the plane to Air New Zealand at the end of a lease agreement with XL Airways died instantly.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said his airline had been denied access to the cockpit voice recorder and he was puzzled why a low-speed, low-altitude test was conducted.

"We cannot understand why that was done because to carry out that check at that altitude is not in accordance with our normal procedures," he said.

The preliminary report, prepared by the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA), said stall warnings sounded and the plane pitched and rolled before plummeting into the sea at 263 knots, or 487 kilometres an hour, on November 27, 2008.

"Under normal operations it is not possible to stall the aircraft," Ken Mathews, deputy chief investigator of New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission said in Wellington.

He called it premature to offer reasons why the crash occurred.

"In reading the report, none of what occurred during this pre-delivery acceptance flight gives us any concern for the normal commercial operation of the A320 fleet which is an integral part of our operations and indeed for many airlines around the world," Fyfe said.

"Certainly I believe that Air New Zealand and its experts should be allowed to contribute their insights and knowledge into the BEA investigation." (dpa)