A series of aviation accidents has rattled flyers enough to drag down ticket sales at the start of the year, contributing to lower financial expectations at major US airlines.
And who can blame them? January’s fiery mid-air collision of an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, DC, killed 67 people, marking the deadliest major commercial US aviation accident in decades. That was followed in quick succession by at least a half-dozen other aviation mishaps — from crashes to near misses — that put much of the flying public on edge.
Just in the past day, two more incidents have renewed worry about air safety. A passenger jet carrying at least six members of Congress was clipped midday Thursday by another commercial plane on the ground at Reagan National. Hours later, a New York City sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, killing all six people on board.
The deadly DC collision “caused a lot of shock among our consumers,” said Ed Bastian, chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines Inc., which