AS THE chief executive of Trans World Airlines, Mr Jeffrey Erickson, raced back from London to New York yesterday to take charge of the airline's investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800, uncomfortable memories loomed of the fate that befell another American pioneer of the skies, writes Michael Harrison.
The bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1987 marked the beginning of the end for the US's most famous flag carrier. Lockerbie sapped what little consumer confidence PanAm still commanded.
Within five years the airline which invented the transatlantic clipper service was gone, its international routes and hubs auctioned off to rival airlines and the rump of the business left to wither and die in bankruptcy protection.
TWA is not PanAm. The skids were already under PanAm long before the Lockerbie disaster as a result of its failure to react quickly enough to the deregulation of the US airline market. It was also the US flag carrier without a home base. By contrast, TWA has big hub operations at St Louis and New York and ranks as the world's 13th largest airline, carrying 21 million passengers last year.
But there are also some startling similarities. TWA, like PanAm has had a torrid time since the world airline industry went into recession at the end of the 1980s.
In 1991, TWA, then under the control of the US corporate raider, Mr Carl Icahn, and PanAm were both forced to sell off their routes from the US to Heathrow, London to survive.
TWA's routes were sold to American Airlines, PanAm's to United Airlines. But it did neither struggling carrier much good. Within a year TWA was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as rising oil prices, the Gulf War and intense competition took their toll.
It survived and emerged from Chapter 11 a year later only to return to bankruptcy protection in 1995. It re emerged following an employee buy out backed by a handful of Wall Street institutions but it remains saddled with debts of $1.5 billion.
Since its founding in the late 1920s, TWA has been associated with some famous initiatives and famous names. It was the first to launch an innovative rail and air trip from New York to Los Angeles that slashed coast to coast travel time to 48 hours. In 1939, it was bought by the billionaire, Howard Hughes, who sold it in 1965, by which time TWA was among the world's top three carriers.
Under Mr Erickson, TWA has big plans for the airline. At present it operates only one flight to Britain - from St Louis to Gatwick - but wants permission to reintroduce daily services from New York to Heathrow. By coincidence, Mr Erickson was in Britain on Wednesday night as flight 800 took off from JFK airport, lobbying MPs on the subject.
Mr Erickson also wants to replace many of the aircraft in TWA's 189 strong fleet, the oldest in the US. Yesterday's disaster off the coast of Long Island may have put paid to that and much more besides.
Reuter adds: The crashed Boeing 747-100 was insured for $10.7 million and passenger liability could be as high as $3 million for some victims, London market sources said. The minimum payouts were likely to be around $300,000, industry sources said.
Mr Erickson told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the company was looking forward to a strong third quarter and was on track to meet expectations for the year.
Our fundamentals are strong. They continue to be strong and they project to be strong", he said. Strong advance bookings were a reason for optimism and TWA would not be hurt by summer fare wars or a 10 per cent passenger excise tax, he said.
The airline said that it earned $25.3 million in the second quarter, up from $5.2 million in the same period the year before. TWA has about 23,000 employees.
According to a May survey by the Salomon Brothers investment firm, the average age of TWA's 188 aircraft was 18.6 years.
The plane that crashed was delivered in 1971, making it one of the oldest of the jumbo jets in commercial service, a spokeswoman for Boeing said.
The plane, powered by four Pratt & Whitney engines, originally was delivered to the former Eastern Airlines and immediately was transferred to TWA.
Company officials could not immediately provide details of the plane's service record. Safety engineers from Boeing and Pratt & Whitney were being sent to the crash site.
The 747-100 was the first version of the world's biggest passenger jet, entering service in January 1970. A total of 1,082 of the popular jumbo jets have been delivered.
. TWA shares dropped sharply yesterday by 7/8 to $10 3/8 at midday on the New York Stock Exchange. Boeing gained 1-1/8 to $86 3/8 on the exchange.