First of all, let me say God rest the souls of those who perished.

If this had been a USAirways mainline flight, the news media would have made a big deal connecting the crash to US being in Ch.11

As I watched various stations last night, I didn't see any of that. But, I hardly saw anybody making a distinction that the US affiliation was MARKETING only. Therefore, I think most people would think this is US fault. Then again, I seriously doubt most people even realize US is in Ch.11. Hell, I know a lot of people who couldn't even tell ya what airlines were involved on 9/11.

So do you think this will have a material effect on USAirways reorganization efforts. Will it downturn revenue?

Your thoughts?

Unlikely.

Albeit true that there is typically a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the traveling public when any airline's brand identity is associated with an accident (regardless if it's that actual airline or not).

The only problem I forecast for the immediate future may be a short-term fallout toward "regional aircraft". Tom Brokaw was already jumping on the "are they safe?" bandwagon last night. Since USAirways has shifted a lot of mainline flying to Express, and the traveling public knows no difference between a CRJ and a BE1, there may be some initial resistance to traveling on "Express" flights, and in markets where USAirways has eliminated mainline, some may go elsewhere.

I think, though, this would only be a temporary shift, and since this is historically the slowest time of the year, doubtful it would have any longterm negative financial impact on USAirways.

Depends on how the media carries this in the following week(s). If they draw it out into a "regional aircraft are unsafe diatribe" like they did in late 1994/early 1995 following the Eagle crashes, there could be some trouble. But with an Iraqi confrontation looming on the horizon, I doubt there will be many more "slow news days" for this or it's ramifications to control the headlines.

Travis

As a customer, I would still fly US Airways without any hesitation.

Greetings:

I doubt it will hurt US Airways in the long run. While every crash is tragic and even the death of one person is a terrible event the media will soon drop this story from the headlines. The crash of a 19 passenger prop doesn't make headline news like a 250 passenger widebody going down. Watching the news last night the crash wasn't even the first story reported. It's also being reported that the voice recorder is providing clues to the crash. If the mystery is solved there's no speculation, no rumor spreading, and simple no story for the media to report. So will it effect US? No.

Regards
Tom

It won't do them any good either ...

It depends on the reason of the crash I guess

The media "half-life" for a crash story is about a week and a half, with the overall booking-away trend lasting just slightly longer; perhaps two weeks total.

However, that usually only occurs when an accident affects mainline operations, or wholly-owned subsidiaries.

US Airways is far more insulated here, since the plane was owned and operated by Mesa, dba Air Midwest. Even the official press releases from US have been very quick to point out that they are "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of the Air Midwest flight," etc.

Also, the media has been very cooperative, willingly following the "Hmm..it wasn't US Airways, but some airline known as Air Midwest," mantra.

The crash is very unlikely to hurt US Airways. Only if the NTSB investigation determines some systemic problem with the operations of Air Midwest, would there be an ongoing effect. So far, it looks like a freak accident, and the public understands that any human operation may have one of those once in a very great while. The AA crash in New York in November 2001, for instance, didn't have any lasting effect on American.

I for one would fly US Airways and any of its regional affiliates as usual, if my plans called for them.

Jim

Here in the local Orlando station they didnt even call it a US Airways express flight- they just said an Air Midwest flight crashed in CLT. I dont see this as something that could greatly affect the publics perception on US Airways, the publics perception on turboprops might be tarnished though.
Chepos

Every crash will hurt an airline on the short term.
It always depends what an airline is going to do after a such a sad event.

Here in Pittsburgh, the front page of the Post-Gazette read "US Airways crash kills 21" With the exception of the post-gazette, however, most local media has been doing a good job of separating the two carriers.

pgh234

Well what do you know? I will be flying a B1900D to JST in July!

Leo/ORD

And I'm flying on an Air Midwest 1900 PHL-RDG a month from yesterday...yes, one month to the day after this crash. Ooo.

I, for one, have been proud of the way at least CNN has handled the accident. It's almost as if they're respecting US Airways...holding off from driving nails into the coffin.

At first CNN did announce it as "US Airways crash kills all"

But they've gotten better about it.

N

Maybe I spoke too soon  

I got VERY freaked as I turned on AOL Instant Messenger that morning to the headline "21 Killed in US Airways Crash"

Flying PIT-SAN on US Airways tomorrow (1/10). First time on them, despite having lived here 2.5 years. All my previous flights to/from PIT were on UA, AA, CO and NW. Hopefully it will be a good flight.

A sad fact that will actually help USAirways through this is the fact that the wreckage was totally destroyed in the post-crash fire. No definable wreckage - no lasting images of the company's logo in pieces (like with the AA A300 tail separation out of JFK in 2001, the Air Florida tail coming out of the Potomac in 1981 or the cockpit section of PA103 in Lockerbie). Sometimes, you have to look at the "silver linings" in these matters.

I think US will see some minor fallout from this but it will be minimal as most news agencies have shown the B1900D and not mainline USAirways aircraft.

MxCtrlr  
Freight Dogs Anonymous - O.O.T.S.K.