Crash unlikely to thwart US Airways' economic recovery CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) =97 The crash of a US Airways commuter flight will cost= =20 the insurance industry tens of millions of dollars, but is unlikely to=20 derail the airline's efforts to emerge from bankruptcy protection, experts= =20 said. Nor is the crash likely to threaten the viability of Wichita,=20 Kan.-based Air Midwest, the regional carrier that operated Flight 5481=20 under a code-sharing agreement with US Airways. "It's not one of these=20 things (that could) shut an airline down," Mike Boyd, president of aviation= =20 consultant the Boyd Group of Evergreen, Colo., told The Charlotte Observer.= =20 Air Midwest is insured by AIG for such disasters, said Brian Gillman, vice= =20 president and general counsel for Mesa Air Group Inc., the Phoenix company= =20 that owns Air Midwest. The insurance industry could pay up to $85 million in damages, the=20 Insurance Information Institute of New York estimated Wednesday. How much=20 it pays to crash victims' estates will depend on the victims' ages,=20 earnings capacity, number of dependents and whether a jury decides they=20 experienced pain and suffering, said Paul Finizio, an aviation attorney in= =20 Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where two of the victims lived. For instance, the=20 estate of a 40-year-old who earned $1 million a year might be entitled to=20 $25 million in lost wages. Who pays will depend on the accident's cause and perhaps whether victims=20 knew US Airways was not operating the flight, lawyers said, adding that it= =20 likely may take five years or more to settle claims. Mesa operated the=20 aircraft under one of seven code-sharing agreements US Airways has with=20 regional airlines. US Airways sells tickets for Air Midwest, which=20 schedules, prices and operates the flights for a share of the ticket price.= =20 Attorneys have called such arrangements misleading because passengers often= =20 are unaware that another airline is operating the flight. But US Airways=20 spokesman David Castelveter said federal law now requires airlines to tell= =20 passengers who's flying the plane. "It's not in small print," he said. Such= =20 distinctions are unlikely to deflect victims' families from naming US=20 Airways in their claims, said aviation attorneys. "I can guarantee you that= =20 on the first pleadings filed, that US Airways will be named as a=20 defendant," said Robert Mineo, an aviation attorney and aeronautical=20 engineer in Raleigh. Wednesday's crash is the first fatality in Mesa's=20 history and came as the airline industry is losing millions of dollars=20 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mesa posted a $9.3 million loss in=20 2002, but its passenger traffic jumped 46 percent last month compared with= =20 the previous year. The company has had more than 470 service-difficulty=20 reports filed with the Federal Aviation Administration since 1990 =97 not=20 unusual, given the size of the company's operations, aviation safety=20 consultant Eric Doten said. Most involved minor concerns, he said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************