Paris/Wellington  - Three people died and four were missing and feared dead in the crash of an Airbus A320 jet on Thursday into the Mediterranean Sea during a test flight.

The aircraft plunged into waters just off the French coast after taking off in late afternoon with a crew of seven from Perpignan, France, where the plane was being overhauled.

The plane belonged to Air New Zealand and had been leased to the German carrier XL Airways for the last two years. It was to have been returned in the coming days to Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe told a news conference in Auckland that two of the crew were German pilots from XL Airways. The others were a pilot and three engineers employed by Air New Zealand and an inspector from New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority, he said.

Fyfe said the plane was returning to Perpignan after a two-hour test flight, having been repainted in Air New Zealand colours prior to being flown back to its homeland.

Three bodies were recovered from the water, and though French Navy boats, planes and a helicopter were continuing rescue search efforts, a spokesman for the French Coast Guard said that it was very unlikely that anyone had survived the crash.

Fyfe told reporters he still hoped that survivors would be found. "I certainly haven't given up hope," he said.

The crash occurred when it was already Friday in New Zealand, on the 29th anniversary of Air New Zealand's worst disaster, when a DC- 10-30 plane on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica crashed on the slopes of Mount Erebus, killing all 257 aboard. (dpa)