Air New Zealand has confirmed that a A320 aircraft, leased to a European based company has crashed in the Mediterranean sea.
Reports are that one person has been found dead and six are missing.
The Airbus had seven people on board, including three senior Air New Zealand pilots.
It is believed to have been an hour and a half into a technical flight when it went down, 10 km off the French coast.
Air NZ Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe says the aircraft, which was being operated by the leasee - X L Air, was due to return to service with Air New Zealand next month.
The A320 is under 30 metres of water, about 10km off the coast of Perpignan.
Local newspaper journalist Christian Bachelier says the plane was in for repair at Europe Aeroservice at Perpignan airport.
A major rescue operation is underway, with a surveillance plane, two rescue helicopters and five ships scouring the seas around the crash site 3.5 nautical miles from shore.
In an eerie coincidence, it's 29 years to the day since an Air New Zealand DC10 crashed into Mt Erebus.
