"I Cannot Adequately Express... Our Sadness"
Below is the statement released by
Comair CEO Don Bornhorst regarding Sunday's accident in Lexington,
KY involving a CRJ-200 flying for the airline --
Ed.
On behalf of everyone at Comair, I cannot adequately express to
you our sadness about this accident and our deep concern for
everyone involved. My thoughts and prayers – and the thoughts
and prayers of the entire Comair team – are with them.
At this early stage, I want to emphasize our commitment to our
passengers, their families and friends about Flight 5191. Family
members and friends from within the US inquiring about passengers
aboard this flight should call 1-800-801-0088.
Our top priorities at this time are the following:
Care for families and loved ones of those onboard Flight
5191
Full support for the ensuing investigations
Support for the operation for other customers
At this time, we cannot speculate on the cause of this accident.
We will be working closely with the FAA and the National
Transportation Safety Board as these agencies conduct their
investigation to determine what caused this tragedy. I personally
pledge the total commitment of Comair and its employees to this
effort.
We will keep the media and the public informed of developments
as they are confirmed. This includes working with the NTSB on the
release of names and the status of passengers and crewmembers. The
names of those aboard Flight 5191 will be made public only after
the proper authorities have positively identified the individuals
and we have been confirmed that the families have been notified.
This can be a time-consuming process because we want to be
absolutely certain that this very sensitive information is correct,
so please be patient. Again, we have established a toll-free number
and urge families and friends of those on board Flight 5191 to call
us at 800-801-0088.
I've been in touch with Delta Chief Operating Officer Jim
Whitehurst as well as other Delta executives. Comair has the full
support of Delta in providing our airline with any resources
necessary to assist families and investigators involved in this
accident.
The coming days and weeks promise to be a very challenging time
for the Comair team. Let me just re-iterate that we are
working closely with authorities to assist in determining the cause
of this accident.
On behalf of the 6,400 members of the Comair team, I cannot
adequately express to you our sadness about this accident and our
deep concern for everyone involved. My thoughts and prayers
–- and the thoughts and prayers of the entire Comair team
–- are with them.