Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident

Thai Airways was trying to protect image, accomplished the opposite
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2013 1:31 PM CDT
Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident
A Thai Airways passenger plane takes off over a damaged Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

A Thai Airways plane skidded off the runway during landing last night, but you wouldn't know it was a Thai Airways plane from pictures taken after the accident. Airline workers painted over the logos on both the tail and body of the aircraft, a "crisis communication rule" supposedly recommended by Star Alliance, a global airline network to which Thai Airways belongs. But the alliance denies that claim to CNN, and Thai Airways clarified in a statement: "Though Thai generally practices the de-identifying of an aircraft after an incident ... the company also clarifies that this is not a Star Alliance policy." Thirteen people received minor injuries during the evacuation after the landing gear malfunction. (More Thai Airways stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X