NYTimes.com Article: Two Airlines Recall Those Who Were Lost

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Two Airlines Recall Those Who Were Lost

September 11, 2002
By EDWARD WONG






The skies will fall silent again today.

Many pilots plan to make an announcement on their flights
this morning asking for a minute of quiet reflection. The
moment will be especially somber for crews and passengers
on flights operated by American Airlines and United
Airlines, which each lost two planes and the people aboard
them last year. Never had the carriers dealt with a
disaster of that magnitude, and they and their employees
are struggling to cope with the anniversary.

"We do plan to remain fairly low key and have several
respectful activities," Tara Baten, a spokeswoman for
American, said. "The observances will primarily be within
the American Airlines family."

This month, workers at both airlines are wearing red and
blue ribbons with four white stars that represent the
pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents and
passengers lost that day.

At the headquarters of American, in Fort Worth, and United,
in Chicago, there will be a moment of silence at 10 a.m.
American will hold a tree-planting ceremony and put a
commemorative plaque at its flight school, and it will
erect a glass etching in its air museum with the names of
the employees killed. United will unveil a memory garden
with 21 newly planted bushes.

American lost a total of 4 pilots and 13 flight attendants
in planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. United lost 4 pilots, 12 flight attendants and 2
off-duty customer service agents in crashes at the trade
center and the countryside near Shanksville, Pa.

"There are tons of events out there at different churches,"
Steve Derebey, a spokesman for the pilots' union at United,
said. "We've encouraged our members to attend and observe
this, to do what is most meaningful to them."

Mr. Derebey said the union had asked off-duty pilots to go
in uniform to airports and to talk to passengers "about
their concerns, to reassure them it's safe to fly and to
say that we're proud to be United pilots."

Executives of the two airlines and union leaders will hold
a memorial service at 2 p.m. in Washington Square Park in
Manhattan. Representatives will also attend other services
in New York, Washington and Shanksville. American and
United are giving free flights to families of the victims
to travel to the events.

Both airlines are cutting the number of flights today
because of scarce bookings. They declined to give numbers
on the cutback.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/business/11SKIE.html?ex=1032749443&ei=1&en=1b1b06f94c003f5f



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